An appeal or enforcement petition may be filed in the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia or in any other Circuit Court having jurisdiction over the appellant or respondent. Generally, this means the Circuit in which the employer is located or in which the unfair labor practice was committed. The NLRB is not bound by previous decisions of any given Circuit Court. While a court may disagree with the interpretation of the Board in a particular case, and refuse to enforce an award, that is not binding on the Board in its future decisions. The result of the relationship between the Circuit Courts and the NLRB is that the parties can and will engage in forum shopping, seeking review of a particular order in a Circuit with a sympathetic record.
Circuit courts review only the record, with any appellate briefs and arguments presented.
There is no right to submit new evidence or to have an appellate court rehear the evidence. The Board is presumed to be the proper fact-finder. A circuit court may enforce the Board's order, vacate the order, remand the order for further Board action or consideration, or modify the order and enforce it as modified. There are very limited and discretionary grounds on which a Circuit Court decision may be appealed to the Supreme Court. However, the courts have recognized the broad discretion of the Board in fashioning specific remedies to undo the damage of an unfair labor practice.