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Powell, et al. v. SEC

CASE SUMMARY

NCLA challenges the Securities and Exchange Commission’s denial of our long-standing petition to amend the agency’s “Gag Rule.” In place for over five decades, this pernicious rule forbids every American who settles a regulatory enforcement case with SEC from even truthfully criticizing their cases in public, violating their First Amendment rights. SEC ignored NCLA’s initial petition challenging the Gag Rule for more than five years, only issuing a denial after NCLA filed a renewed petition in December 2023.

SEC enacted the 1972 Gag Rule without notice and comment after falsely framing it as an internal “housekeeping” measure that would not affect third parties. The agency never had statutory authority to implement such a substantive rule, and it bypassed Administrative Procedure Act requirements to publish, provide notice and allow comment before promulgating a rule binding on third parties. Speech bans must be narrowly tailored, serve a compelling government interest, and adopt the least restrictive means to protect that interest. SEC has never provided a legitimate much less a compelling reason for silencing for life all enforcement targets who wish to settle.

The Gag Rule infringes on news organizations’ First Amendment rights to Freedom of the Press to hear and report the views SEC enforcement targets wish to express about their cases. It conceals vital information about SEC enforcement policies. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce issued a stinging dissent from SEC’s denial decision, powerfully arguing that “the American public, not government censors” must be the arbiters of the validity of speech.

OUR TEAM

Margaret A. Little
Senior Litigation Counsel
Kara Rollins
Senior Litigation Counsel
Kaitlyn Schiraldi
Staff Attorney
Russ Ryan
Senior Litigation Counsel
Mark Chenoweth
President and Chief Legal Officer
Karen Harned
Director of Engagement
Christian Clase
Constitutional Litigation Fellow

RELEVANT MATERIALS

NCLA FILINGS

Brief of Freedom of the Press Foundation as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioners' Petition for Rehearing and/or Rehearing en Banc

October 2, 2025 | Read More

Brief of the Cato Institute as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petition for Rehearing and/or Rehearing en Banc

October 2, 2025 | Read More

Brief of Amicus Curiae Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression in Support of Petitioner' Petition for Rehearing and/or Rehearing en Banc

October 2, 2025 | Read More

Brief of Amicus Curiae Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute In Support of Petition for Rehearing

October 1, 2025 | Read More

Petition for Rehearing and/or Rehearing en Banc

September 22, 2025 | Read More

SEE 24 FILINGS
PRESS RELEASES

Prominent Organizations Join Call for en Banc Rehearing in NCLA Suit Against SEC’s Illegal Gag Rule

October 6, 2025 | Read More

NCLA Asks en Banc Ninth Circuit to Rehear First Amendment Case Seeking to End SEC’s ‘Gag Rule’

September 23, 2025 | Read More

NCLA’s King George III Prize Crowns Former SEC Chair Gensler 2024’s Worst Civil Liberties Violator

June 11, 2025

In Hawaii, Ninth Circuit Hears Oral Argument in NCLA Case Against SEC’s Illegal Gag Rule

February 13, 2025 | Read More

Sixteen Amici Submit Powerful Briefs Defending First Amendment Rights Against SEC’s Illegal Gag Rule

June 27, 2024 | Read More

SEE 9 PRESS RELEASES
IN THE MEDIA

What doesn’t the SEC want Volkswagen shareholders to know?

April 6, 2024

What is the SEC so afraid of?

February 9, 2024

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