The Supreme Court ruled earlier this week in Free Enterprise Fund et al v Public Company Accounting Oversight Board et al: see here (pdf). A majority of the court held that provisions in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding the removal from office of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board members were unconstitutional and should be severed from the Act. The Act provided that the Board members were removable by the Securities and Exchange Commission only for good cause; the effect of the court's decision is that they are now removable at will. Chief Justice Roberts, delivering the (majority) opinion of the court, stated:
Neither the President, nor anyone directly responsible to him, nor even an officer whose conduct he may review only for good cause, has full control over the Board. The President is stripped of the power our precedents have preserved, and his ability to execute the laws — by holding his subordinates accountable for their conduct — is impaired. That arrangement is contrary to Article II’s [of the Constitution] vesting of the executive power in the President".
No comments:
Post a Comment