Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of SOX Board
The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments today on the constitutionality of a financial watchdog agency created by the Sarbanes-Oxley law.
At issue is whether the Securities and Exchange Commission may appoint members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board without violating the Constitution. Challengers to the law contend the appointments procedure undermines the president’s appointments authority and violates separation of powers, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Lawyers for the board and the Solicitor General Elena Kagan counter that the president still has the power to oversee the board through his chain of command authority. Kagan also says the Constitution allows “inferior officers” to be appointed by other government agencies.
According to the Christian Science Monitor, “The case represents the latest battleground in a long-running dispute among legal scholars over whether there should be a bright line separating presidential power from congressional power, or whether that line can sometimes be blurred when Congress seeks to create independent agencies that operate at the murky intersection between the executive branch and the legislative branch of government.”
National Public Radio also previews the arguments.
The case is Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
