Free Speech -- 2017



National Association of Manufacturers v. SEC   (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)

Challenging law and SEC rule on Conflict Minerals

The NAM challenged the conflict minerals rule issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in August 2012. The challenge was transferred from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to the U.S. District Court for D.C. The rule harmed manufacturers because it required misleading and stigmatizing public statements unfairly linking products to human rights violations. The NAM argued that the SEC incorrectly interpreted the statute, which required reporting of certain minerals that “did originate” in and around the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to cover minerals that “may have originated” there. In April 2017, the D.C. District Court entered final judgment declaring the SEC regulations on conflict minerals unconstitutional to the extent that the statute and the rule require regulated entities to report to the SEC and to state on their websites that any of their products “have not been found to be ‘DRC conflict free.’”