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U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit

Case Status

Decided

Docket Number

1:13-cv-00635-RLW, 12-1422; 13-5252

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D.C. Circuit panel reaffirms that SEC’s Conflict Minerals Rule violates First Amendment

April 03, 2017

A divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reaffirmed the panel's prior judgment that a public disclosure provision of the SEC’s “Conflict Minerals Rule” violates the First Amendment by compelling companies to declare that their products might contribute to human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the surrounding region—a politically controversial and non-factual message.

The U.S. Chamber, along with the National Association of Manufacturers and the Business Roundtable, prevailed in April 2014 before the same panel on the same ground, but the panel granted petitions for rehearing in light of an intervening en banc decision of the D.C. Circuit in American Meat Institute v. USDA. Notwithstanding American Meat Institute, the panel reaffirmed its prior judgment.

Furthermore, a petition for rehearing en banc was denied in November 2015.

The District Court's final judgment was issued in April 2017.

Petition for review filed 10/19/12. Opening merits brief filed 1/16/13. Motion to transfer granted 5/2/13. Argued 7/1/13. Decided 7/23/2013.

The U.S. Chamber appealed the District Court's decision on 8/12/2013. Decided 4/14/2014.

In light of the D.C. Circuit's en banc decision in American Meat Institute v. U.S. Department of Agriculture, which expanded the situations in which a more limited scrutiny standard applies, a rehearing petition was granted on 11/18/2014. Decided 8/18/2015.

Petition for rehearing en banc filed 10/2/2015. Denied 11/9/2015.

Final judgment issued 4/3/2017.

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