SEC Climate Disclosure Rules Case Frozen by Eighth Circuit (2)

A federal appeals court on Thursday suspended litigation challenging the SEC’s Biden-era corporate emissions reporting requirements after the agency under President Donald Trump abandoned its defense of the rules in March.

Democratic attorneys general from Massachusetts, New York, and more than a dozen other states, plus the District of Columbia, asked the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to pause the litigation earlier this month, while the Securities and Exchange Commission decides if it should toss or amend the 2024 rules.

SEC lawyers didn’t disclose the agency’s plans when they told the court last month that they were “no longer authorized to advance” arguments in support of the rules. But Republican Mark Uyeda, the SEC’s interim leader at the time, had called the rules “deeply flawed.” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, who took office April 21, also has fought against the regulations that require companies to report their greenhouse gas emissions and make other climate disclosures.

The Democratic attorneys general intervened last year in the litigation to defend the rules. Republican attorneys general, business groups, and others sued to stop the regulations over claims challenging the SEC’s power to issue them. The SEC has put the enforcement of the rules on hold while the litigation continues.

The Eighth Circuit in its order on Thursday directed the SEC to explain its plans for the rules in a July status report.

An SEC spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Challenger Concerns

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R), the US Chamber of Commerce, and other challengers of the SEC’s climate rules urged the Eighth Circuit to reject the bid by the Democratic attorneys general to freeze the litigation, saying a hold harms their ability to pursue their claims. The court instead should proceed to rule on their challenges or hear oral arguments in the litigation before reaching a decision, they said.

The challengers’ opposition was unwarranted, the Democratic attorneys general said in a court filing after they asked the Eighth Circuit to hold the litigation in abeyance.

“Abeyance will ensure that this Court does not expend significant resources deciding the merits of regulations that SEC could promptly seek to nullify,” the Democratic attorneys general said in their filing. “The Court should devote the time and energy necessary to hear oral argument and write an opinion addressing the many issues these petitions raise only if doing so is necessary.”

Representatives of Bird, the Chamber, and the Democratic attorneys general didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The case is Iowa v. SEC, 8th Cir., No. 24-01522, order filed 4/24/25.