14 Jul 2023 Will the National Center’s Lawsuit Bring the SEC Back to Neutral?

In the Wall Street Journal, J.W. Verret discusses the implications of the lawsuit we’ve brought against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As Verret relays, the SEC — once a trusted institution — has become politicized under Biden-appointed Chairman Gary Gensler and through pressure from the woke left:

Originally conceived as a simple guardian of financial transparency and a sentinel against fraud, the SEC has seen its role gradually reshaped by progressives who envision the agency as a force for cultural change. The SEC has even begun trying to compel corporate speech on woke issues indirectly, but a recent lawsuit could help steer it back on the right path.

This lawsuit, which we’ve brought against the SEC with the help of America First Legal and Boyden Gray & Associates, came about after our Free Enterprise Project (FEP) experienced wave after wave of apparent discrimination in its shareholder activism work.

Our activism involving Kroger was the final straw:

The NCPPR sued the SEC after it denied the conservative foundation’s proxy proposal that retail giant Kroger issue a report on the risks of not guarding against viewpoint discrimination in its equal employment opportunity policy. The NCPPR is a longtime Kroger investor and submitted the proposal after the company paid $180,000 to settle claims from former employees that they were fired for refusing to wear aprons they thought endorsed the LGBT community. By any reasonable interpretation, the NCPPR proposal dealt with a significant social policy issue that could be material to Kroger and investors. Yet the SEC still denied it, even though it approved similar proposals dealing with discrimination regarding race and sexual orientation, such as a Pfizer proposal to report on its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

If successful, our lawsuit could be key in bringing the once-trusted SEC back to neutral:

This suit could help steer the SEC back toward its original purpose of mandating disclosures of basic financial information and policing fraud.

Read the entire commentary (under paywall) here.