Columbus, OH – On Monday, The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Powell v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, calling on the court to overturn the SEC’s unconstitutional gag rule, which prohibits Americans who settle a case with SEC from discussing the case publicly. 

“Since our nation’s founding, judicial review in the face of government overreach has been ‘the very essence of civil liberty,’” said David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute. “And at its heart, this case is about vindicating the right to meaningful judicial review of the SEC’s unconstitutional gag rule, which it uses to silence untold numbers of Americans from discussing their cases publicly.” 

In its brief, The Buckeye Institute argues that the SEC gag rule—adopted in 1972 in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act—violates the First Amendment and is nothing more than a way for the SEC to silence—for life—Americans who settle their cases. 

Powell v. SEC is a New Civil Liberties Alliance case. 

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