Manufacturers Group Looks to Challenge SEC Sway on Proxy Ballots

The National Association of Manufacturers has asked the Fifth Circuit for permission to join a case challenging the SEC’s authority to influence company proxy ballots.

NAM wants to intervene in a case brought by a conservative group against the Securities and Exchange Commission following the agency’s decision to allow Kroger Co. to exclude that group’s anti-discrimination proposal from the proxy ballot for its June 22 annual meeting.

The SEC lacks the power to dictate the contents of proxy ballots for company annual meetings, the manufacturers association said in a motion to intervene filed Wednesday in the US Court of Appeals ...