This is a big win for America's job creators and investors. We applaud the court's decision to prevent special interest politics from being injected into the boardroom. Companies and directors need to continue to focus on the important work of creating jobs and reviving our economy. Today's decision also sends a strong message that regulators need to meet their statutory requirement to clearly prove that the benefits of regulation outweigh the costs.

Some investor groups, including labor unions and pension funds, espouse proxy access rules, arguing that such rules ensure that company management is held accountable [WSJ report]. Companies, however, contend that proxy access rules give too much power to minority or special interest groups. The SEC was authorized to implement proxy access rules under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act [text, PDF], which was signed into law [JURIST report] by President Barack Obama in July 2010 and created the new regulatory council to monitor financial institutions in order to prevent companies from becoming "too big to fail." In addition to creating the US Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) [offical website], this legislation also gives the Federal Reserve [official website] new oversight over the largest financial institutions, creates a bureau of consumer protection, introduces multitudes of new regulations on derivatives and other financial instruments and limits the amount of capital banks can invest in hedge funds. In June 2009, the administration proposed a broad series of regulatory reforms [press release; JURIST report] aimed at restoring confidence in the US financial system in the wake of economic crisis [JURIST news archive].