In the latest legal assault on government regulations promulgated under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Sidley Austin appellate partner Peter Keisler notched a partial victory on Monday for corporate America.
In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the Securities and Exchange Commission can’t force stock-issuing companies to announce when their products contain minerals extracted from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. The court found that requiring companies to disclose to the agency and the public that their products have “not been found to be ‘DRC conflict free’” would trample on their free speech rights.
