The federal appeals court opinion that upheld the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board was a disastrous decision that undermines the president’s ability to supervise federal officers, said Jones Day lawyers in a petition for certiorari filed this week.
The lawyers, representing the Free Enterprise Fund and the accounting firm Beckstead and Watts, asked the justices to review August’s split decision in which a U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit panel rejected a challenge of the PCAOB. The appellate court majority held that the board does not violate the appointments clause or separation of powers. The board regulates accounting firms that audit public companies.
