In a highly anticipated opinion, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit held today that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board created by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to oversee auditors is, in fact, constitutional.
As reported by Bloomberg, a Las Vegas accounting firm challenged the board’s legality in a 2006 lawsuit, arguing its makeup violated the Constitution’s separation of powers clause. The DC Circuit held, however, that PCAOB board members are “officers not required to be appointed by the president.” One of the three judges on the appellate panel dissented, saying the PCAOB’s structure unconstitutionally restricts the president’s appointment and removal powers.
Subscribe to Securities Docket by Email
[...] discussed here previously, on August 22, 2008 the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit held [...]
[...] a hotly-contested case that has been discussed here in several posts, The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider a constitutional challenge to the Public Company [...]