What Does The SEC Approved NASDAQ Diversity Proposal Mean For Boards?
Financing Challenges for Small Cap Companies
On December 11, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in a lengthy opinion, vacated the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of Nasdaq’s board diversity rules in Alliance for Fair...more
On December 11, 2024, the 5th Circuit issued another important opinion (for the third time this year) requiring that an administrative agency's rules fit squarely within the statutory scheme that empowers the agency to act....more
On December 11, 2024, in Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in a 9-8 vote that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) adoption of the Nasdaq board diversity...more
In a 9-8 en banc decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned a three-judge panel decision and invalidated the Nasdaq Board Diversity Rule, Rule 506, that had been approved by the Securities and...more
On December 11, 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) order approving The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC’s (Nasdaq) board diversity rules, holding that the...more
Our Securities Group unpacks the Fifth Circuit decision striking down Nasdaq’s board diversity rules approved in 2021 by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)....more
On December 11, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not have the authority to approve Nasdaq’s board diversity disclosure rules. As a result, Nasdaq-listed...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the SEC’s approval of Nasdaq’s board diversity rules. Consequently, Nasdaq-listed companies are no longer required to satisfy Nasdaq’s “comply or explain” director...more
By a 9-8 majority, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the rule proposed by Nasdaq and approved by the SEC requiring most Nasdaq-listed companies to either maintain at least two diverse directors on the board or...more
On December 11, 2024, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a decision in Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC vacating the SEC’s approval of Nasdaq’s board diversity rules. The rules required tabular...more
On December 11, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in a 9-8 vote, struck down The Nasdaq Stock Market's ("Nasdaq") board diversity rules, holding that the Securities and Exchange Commission (the...more
In an en banc decision filed on December 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Fifth Circuit) vacated the 2021 approval by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of rules adopted by The Nasdaq...more
On December 11, 2024, in a 9-8 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that in approving the Nasdaq Stock Market’s (Nasdaq) board diversity rules (the Rules), the Securities and Exchange...more
In a 9-8 decision on December 10, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down Nasdaq’s efforts to promote diversity on public company boards. The case, Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC, vacated...more
On December 11, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted the consolidated petitions for review and vacated the order by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that approved Nasdaq’s rules...more
(This post updates my post of December 12 to add further discussion of the decision.) - In August 2021, the SEC approved a Nasdaq proposal for new listing rules regarding board diversity and disclosure, accompanied by a...more
Wow. By a 9-8 vote – that’s a close one! – the 5th Circuit decided that the SEC exceeded its authority when it approved the Nasdaq’s board diversity rule in Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC last week. The 5th...more
On December 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) order approving The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC’s (Nasdaq’s) board diversity listing standards....more
On December 11, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated Nasdaq Listing Rule 5605(f) and Nasdaq Listing Rule 5606(a) (together with Nasdaq Listing Rule IM-5900-9, the Board Diversity Rules) by a 9-8 vote. In...more
On December 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated the SEC’s approval of Nasdaq’s board diversity disclosure rules. These rules were approved by the SEC on August 6, 2021 and required listed...more
On December 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, sitting en banc, ruled that The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (Nasdaq) cannot enforce previously adopted listing rules requiring Nasdaq-listed companies to have...more
Under rules approved in 2021, Nasdaq-listed companies were required to (1) publicly disclose a board diversity matrix and (ii) have, or disclose why they do not have, at least one diverse director on their board by 2023 and a...more
In August 2021, the SEC approved new board diversity rules requiring Nasdaq-listed companies (i) to include a board diversity matrix in their proxy statement or on their website and (ii) to disclose whether they have one...more
On December 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit struck down Nasdaq’s board diversity rules, which were designed to increase representation of women and minorities on corporate boards. Since 2023, the...more
On December 11, in a 9-8 ruling, the Fifth Circuit invalidated the SEC’s approval of the Nasdaq board diversity rule in Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC. Invoking the “major questions” doctrine, the court ruled the...more