The U.S. Chamber’s Hypocrisy Problem

Today the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit against the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). This is not an uncommon occurrence; in fact, the U.S. Chamber is actually one of the most aggressive litigators in Washington, D.C., entering lawsuits at a rate of twice weekly. Instead, this is just the latest example of the U.S. Chamber’s “one rule for corporations, another rule for everybody else” motto.

While on the one hand the U.S. Chamber liberally uses the civil justice system to protect its own corporate financiers, on the other hand through the Institute for Legal Reform (ILR) it also advocates for legislation that would close the courthouse doors on anyone who would attempt to hold negligent corporations accountable.

ILR has the sole mission of making it more difficult for individuals harmed by negligent corporations to access the civil justice system. ILR is the leading voice for complaining about “frivolous litigation” and how America needs “more jobs, not lawsuits.” Through ILR, the Chamber spends millions of dollars working to protect its corporate financiers - bailed-out banks, polluters, and insurance companies - from being held accountable for their negligence. Just in October, ILR held their annual Legal Reform Summit, a daylong conference dedicated to discussing ways to undermine the civil justice system and weaken the basic legal protections of American workers and consumers.

Often in organizations as large as the Chamber, the left hand doesn’t always talk to the right, but in this situation the Chamber’s hypocrisy is just striking.

For more information on this topic, the American Association for Justice (AAJ) has released two reports exposing the blatant hypocrisy of the U.S. Chamber and ILR’s corporate board members. Both reports can be found here: www.justice.org/uschamber.