Senate obstructionism has so crippled one agency that the Supreme Court has ruled invalid over 500 decisions it made over a two-year period.

The National Labor Relations Board, meant to consist of five members, has a statutory quorum of three. But, from the end of 2007 through this March, it operated with just two members. A steel company contested a decision that the two-member board made, saying the board’s decisions weren’t valid without a three-person quorum, and the Supreme Court today agreed.

The question of whether the Supreme Court made the right decision aside (the court, along a 5-4 divide, quibbled about the intent of the statute governing the NLRB), it’s a pretty startling example of the real impact of the Senate’s stalling on executive appointments.

In fact, President Obama finally broke the NRLB’s gridlock in March when he bypassed the Senate to make two recess appointments to the board…after Chief Justice Roberts had urged him to do so in the case’s oral arguments.

By our count, there is currently a backlog of 96 executive nominees waiting for Senate floor votes. A situation like the NRLB’s is extreme, and rare. But it’s a reminder that while the Senate holds up nominees to make political points, there is important work being left undone.