On February 9, 2009, the ACRU filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court arguing that the Court should review the decisions of the courts below upholding this arrangement.

In response to the scandals at Enron and elsewhere, Congress passed the Sarbanes Oxley Act in 2002, imposing costly, unnecessary regulatory burdens on business. The Act also created the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to oversee and regulate accounting practices, and enforce its regulations through even criminal penalties. The PCAOB even has the power to finance itself through its own tax. But the President has no appointment, removal, supervisory or oversight authority over the PCAOB, with limited oversight granted only to the Securities and Exchange Commission, itself an independent agency from Presidential authority. This case involves a suit arguing that this arrangement is an unconstitutional violation of the Separation of Powers Doctrine, involving an invasion of the President’s executive powers granted in the Constitution by Congress.

READ THE AMICUS BRIEF HERE.