TheCorporateCounsel.net

As John shared in March, one of the unique aspects of the litigation challenging the SEC’s final climate disclosure rules is that the SEC’s rulemaking was being challenged by both sides of the aisle. Challengers included not only Red State AGs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and energy companies saying the rule went too far, but also the NRDC and The Sierra Club saying the rule didn’t go far enough. The litigation only got more complicated when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce moved to intervene in The Sierra Club’s challenge to the rules, which put the Chamber in the position of both challenging the rules and defending them in the consolidated litigation.

As this Cooley PubCo blog points out, the NRDC and the Sierra Club have now filed unopposed motions seeking voluntary dismissal of their petitions for review, both saying they’re planning to focus their limited resources to advocate for further disclosure outside of the litigation. The blog says, “the authority of the SEC to adopt the final rules will not be without support” since AGs of various states have filed a successful motion to intervene on behalf of the SEC, and “presumably, these states will not be challenging whether the SEC went far enough.

John speculated early on that the lottery system may have been a factor in the environmental groups’ decision to file the lawsuit. It may have been a factor in the decision to move for voluntary dismissal as well — after the challenges that were filed in six different circuits were consolidated in the Eighth Circuit which, as Dave noted, is comprised of conservative-leaning judges, similar to the Fifth Circuit.

– Meredith Ervine