Cite as: 532 U. S. 706 (2001)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
dence Hospital, 320 N. L. R. B. 717 (1996), enforced, 121 F. 3d 548 (CA9 1997); Nymed, Inc., 320 N. L. R. B. 806 (1996); see also, e. g., Graphics Typography, Inc., 217 N. L. R. B. 1047, 1053 (1975), enforced mem., 547 F. 2d 1162 (CA3 1976). The Board's interpretation is a familiar one, which has been routinely applied in other employment contexts. See Providence, 320 N. L. R. B., at 717; Graphics Typography, 217 N. L. R. B., at 1053. Applying that interpretation, the NLRB has concluded that in some cases the employees in question are supervisors, and that in others they are not.4 See Brief for Petitioner 17-19, nn. 5-7 (collecting cases); see also Brief for Respondent Kentucky State District Council of Carpenters 36, n. 16 (collecting cases).
The question before us is whether the Board's interpretation is both "rational and consistent with the Act." 5 NLRB v. Curtin Matheson Scientific, Inc., 494 U. S. 775, 796 (1990); see Fall River Dyeing & Finishing Corp. v. NLRB, 482 U. S. 27, 42 (1987). To my mind, the Board's test is both fully rational and entirely consistent with the Act.
The term "independent judgment" is indisputably ambiguous, and it is settled law that the NLRB's interpretation
doing, it ignores a key nuance in the NLRB's position. That, however, is characteristic of the majority's treatment of the NLRB's position, which is at once more fact specific and far less categorical than the majority makes it out to be.
4 The majority, however, pays scant heed to the adjudicative record when it asserts that the Board's interpretation would in essence eliminate the supervisory exception with respect to the "responsibly to direct" function. See ante, at 714-715.
5 "[I]n many . . . contexts of labor policy, '[t]he ultimate problem is the balancing of the conflicting legitimate interests. The function of striking that balance to effectuate national labor policy is often a difficult and delicate responsibility, which the Congress committed primarily to the National Labor Relations Board, subject to limited judicial review.' " Beth Israel Hospital v. NLRB, 437 U. S. 483, 501 (1978) (quoting NLRB v. Truck Drivers, 353 U. S. 87, 96 (1957)).
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