| Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board | ||||||
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Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued December 7, 2009 Decided June 28, 2010 |
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| Full case name | Free Enterprise Fund and Beckstead and Watts, LLP v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, et al. | |||||
| Docket nos. | 08–861 | |||||
| Citations | 561 U. S. ____ (2010) | |||||
| Prior history | Judgment for defendants affirmed, 537 F. 3d 667 (CADC 2008), cert. granted, 556 U. S. ___ (2009) | |||||
| Holding | ||||||
| The dual for-cause limitations on the removal of members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board contravene the Constitution’s separation of powers, but the unconstitutional limitations are severable from the remainder of the statute. The Board's appointment is consistent with the Appointments clause. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed in part, affirmed in part, and remanded. | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Roberts, joined by Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito | |||||
| Dissent | Breyer, joined by Stevens, Ginsburg, Sotomayor | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| U.S. const., art. II | ||||||
Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, 561 U. S. ____ (2010), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court on June 28, 2010. The court held, on a 5-4 vote, that the method through which members Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which supervises compliance with the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, are removed violates the United States Constitution's separation of powers.
The Supreme Court separated this portion of the Act, while keeping the remainder of the rules imposed by the law intact.