Securities Law | Expert Legal Commentary

October 23, 2008

Free Enterprise Fund v. PCOAB: Sarbanes-Oxley’s PCAOB Is Not Unconstitutional

Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB

By Joel B. Ginsberg

In its long-awaited opinion in Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB, 537 F.3d 667 (D.C. Cir. 2008), the Circuit Court for the D.C. Circuit upheld the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 – specifically that Act’s establishment of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) – against constitutional challenges. The plaintiffs argued that Act violates both the Appointments Clause of the Constitution as well as separation-of-powers principles by creating the PCAOB as a virtually independent, autonomous agency over which the President has minimal practical control and authority. The Court disagreed, finding that the Securities and Exchange Commission, over which the President has an appropriate amount of control, has sufficient legal authority over the PCAOB to support a finding that the Act is constitutional. But this case is far from over – appeals are expected, including to the U.S. Supreme Court, meaning that the future of Sarbanes-Oxley is still in question.

1 See article published by the Competitive Enterprise Institute: http://cei.org/gencon/019,04988.cfm.
2 http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/accounting/docs/speaker_papers/spring2005/Zhang_Ivy_Economic_Consequences_of_S_O.pdf.
3 See, for example, an Editorial of The New York Sun, August 26, 2008, found at http://www.nysun.com/editorials/sell-sarbanes-oxley/84635/.

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Companies Mentioned

Beckstead and Watts, LLP

Free Enterprise Fund

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

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The following companies are mentioned in Securities Law Updates:

Securities and Exchange Commission

Harris Associates, L.P.

Banc of America Securities LLC

Citicorp USA, Inc.

The Public Employees’ Retirement System of Mississippi

Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc.

Jan Charles Finance S.A.

Park East, Inc.

CIBC World Markets Corp.

Citigroup Inc.

Barclays Capital Inc.

Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.

Societe Generale

SunTrust Bank

TD Securities (USA), Inc.

BMO Nesbitt Burns Corp. n.k.a. Harris Nesbitt Burns Corp.

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney Professional Corporation

Consolidated Leasing Hugoton Joint Venture #2

W. R. Huff Asset Management Co., LLC

Consolidated Leasing Anadarko Joint Venture

ABN AMRO Bank N.V.

Guardian Capital Management

Vesta Insurance Group, Inc.

Free Enterprise Fund

Banc of America, N.A.

Torchmark Corp.

Beckstead and Watts, LLP

Barclays Bank PLC

KPMG Peat Marwick, LLP

Deloitte & Touche LLP

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

BNY Capital Markets, Inc.

Florida State Board of Administration

Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC

Credit Lyonnais Securities (USA) Inc.

The Cleaners & Caulkers Local 1 Pension Fund

Credit Suisse, New York Branch

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. f.k.a. American Express Financial Corp.

Deutsche Bank AG

California Department of Corporations

The Royal Bank of Scotland plc

RiverSource Investments, LLC

Harris Nesbitt Corp.

Consolidated Management Group, LLC

The Bank of Nova Scotia

Asset Management Holding AG

Deutsche Bank

Toronto Dominion Texas, LLC f.k.a. Toronto Dominion Texas, Inc.

Alex Brown, Inc.

Tellabs, Inc.

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