California Must Defend Quota on Women Corporate Board Members

An OSI Systems Inc. shareholder has standing to challenge a California law requiring public corporations headquartered in the state to have a minimum number of women on their boards of directors, the Ninth Circuit ruled Monday.

California Senate Bill 826 “requires or encourages” individual shareholders of public companies to vote for female board members, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said. As an individual shareholder of California-based OSI, Creighton Meland has standing to argue that the law requires him to discriminate on the basis of sex in violation of the 14th Amendment, the court said.

“A reasonable ...