Attorney General Rokita fights Biden effort to weaponize SEC on behalf of radical climate agenda

Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 8:12 AM

News

With a lawsuit filed today, Attorney General Todd Rokita is fighting back against the Biden administration’s efforts to weaponize the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) through a rule that would place onerous requirements on U.S. companies in service to a radical-left climate agenda.

By implementing the rule, the SEC moves from its traditional role as an independent federal agency enforcing laws against market manipulation to become a partisan purveyor of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.

“Hoosiers rightly expect the SEC to be focused on protecting investors and financial markets rather than making companies bend the knee to radical environmentalism,” Attorney General Rokita said. “This is one more disturbing example of leftwing bureaucrats extending the regulatory tentacles of ESG nonsense into every facet of the economy.”

The new rule compels companies to compile and disclose cumbersome amounts of material related to their greenhouse-gas emissions and how their activities supposedly affect climate change.

“Companies have a legal fiduciary duty to maximize returns to shareholders,” Attorney General Rokita said. “Costly ideological requirements with no proven effect only drive up the price of goods for everyday Hoosiers and reduce value for shareholders. The only winners here are big business and the radical environmentalists with a vendetta against capitalism.”

The lawsuit against the SEC asks a federal appeals court to strike down the SEC’s new rule as unlawful.