U.S. Chamber Applauds Ruling in Arthur Andersen Case

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Chamber of Commerce welcomed today's Supreme Court ruling which overturned a decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the Arthur Andersen LLP v. United States of America document retention case. The 5th Circuit previously ruled that Andersen committed witness tampering when its executives reminded employees of the company's document retention policies.

"The Supreme Court recognized the dangerous predicament created by the lower court's original ruling – businesses were potentially facing criminal charges for having their employees carry out lawful company policies," said Robin Conrad, senior vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center. "Today's decision serves as a reminder of the collateral damage that can be caused by criminalizing what are normally sound and legitimate business practices."

The Chamber filed a brief on the merits in this case. The brief argued the appeals court was wrong in its interpretation of the law because its ruling "authorized criminal punishment for conduct that a reasonable person would not have understood to be criminal," and that the ruling had potentially damaging implications for the economy and individuals by criminalizing supervision of legal conduct.

The Chamber also argued that corporate defendants are entitled to the same degree of fairness and due process under the law as individual defendants. The Chamber also noted the real-world consequences of the Justice Department's overzealous prosecution of Andersen and failure to apply the law as it is on the books, pointing out that 28,000 people lost their jobs as a result of the now-overturned case.

"This case should've been called the 'Employees of Andersen versus the United States' because the true victims of this unjust prosecution were the individuals who worked there," Conrad added. "The irony is that this victory for the company will not bring back a single job."

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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