Washington, D.C., May 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just as the New Civil Liberties Alliance’s cert petition is pending at the U.S. Supreme Court in Powell, et al. v. SEC, the agency has announced it rescinded the policy yesterday after more than 50 years. SEC’s response brief in Powell is due at the Supreme Court on May 26. The timing of this action suggests SEC may be trying to avoid Supreme Court review of its unconstitutional “Gag Rule.” SEC rescinded the rule despite denying NCLA’s petition to amend on January 30, 2024—the subject of the pending cert petition.

In place since 1972, the Gag Rule has forbidden every American who settled a regulatory enforcement case with SEC from even truthfully criticizing their cases in public for the rest of their lives, violating the First Amendment. SEC has now administratively rescinded the Rule, explicitly acknowledging in its press release that it has suppressed speech critical of the government for decades. SEC further states that it will not enforce existing gag orders on people who settled with the agency in the past.

This rescission marks a major First Amendment milestone in NCLA’s eight-year-long legal campaign against the Gag Rule (or what SEC terms its “no-deny policy”). People who SEC charges in the future will benefit for certain; however, SEC’s policy to not enforce it against those already under a gag order may not bind future administrations, courts that have approved settlements, or even a future Commission in this administration. Policies that can be made and withdrawn at the Commission’s whim—without notice and comment as was done here—fail to provide the enduring judicial remedy and certainty petitioners need. At any time, SEC could reverse course, move to enforce existing gags on its own initiative, impose gags without the authority of a rule, or even resurrect this rule under a future administration. So, a Supreme Court ruling that the Gag Rule violates the First Amendment is still needed.

NCLA has fought the Gag Rule at every turn for nearly eight years and will not stop now. Representing several Americans censored by the Gag Rule, and two media outlets that want to tell their stories, NCLA will continue to press its petition for judicial review at the Supreme Court, to ensure the policy cannot return and that existing gag orders in settled cases cannot be revived in the future.

Background

NCLA originally petitioned SEC to end the Gag Rule in 2018. NCLA then led multiple lawsuits against the Gag Rule over the next seven years and renewed the petition in December, 2023. Barely two years ago, SEC denied that renewed petition and upheld the Gag Rule over Commissioner Hester Peirce’s powerful dissent. Accordingly NCLA launched the Powell lawsuit asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to correct that error. After the Ninth Circuit failed to overturn the Gag Rule, NCLA ultimately filed a petition this March asking the Supreme Court to hear Powell and end SEC’s unconstitutional policy once and for all.

NCLA released the following statements:

“SEC’s admission in its press release that this policy has suppressed speech critical of the government for decades represents a huge step towards restoring Americans’ First Amendment rights—and is to be greatly commended. SEC’s easily-reversible repeal of its 50-year Gag Rule is no substitute for the enduring judicial relief which the U.S. Supreme Court can provide petitioners under the Constitution.”
— Peggy Little, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA

“Kudos to Chairman Atkins and the current SEC commissioners for finally repealing the indefensible Gag Rule. However, the U.S. Supreme Court still needs to take this case and put a stake in the heart of this terrible idea that has menaced SEC defendants for over 50 years. Otherwise, the undead rule may return to haunt future victims.”
— Mark Chenoweth, President and Chief Legal Officer, NCLA

For more information visit the case page here.

ABOUT NCLA
NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans’ fundamental rights.

Joe Martyak
New Civil Liberties Alliance
703-403-1111
joe.martyak@ncla.legal