On July 23, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission submitted a status report to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit regarding the final climate-related disclosure rules. According to the status report, the SEC does not intend to review or rescind the rules “at this time,” and requests “that the Court proceed with the litigation and decide the case.” The SEC’s status report noted that a majority of the current Commissioners believes the Commission lacked statutory authority for the rules and also noted that the Commission could not prejudge any potential future action. In addition, the report stated the SEC would evaluate any Court decision in determining a path forward at that time, noting the possibility that could include further action relating to the rules, such as a direction from the Chairman to the staff to recommend future action to replace, modify, or rescind the rules. Finally, the report stated that a decision in the current case would “bear heavily on the Commission’s next steps with the Rules.”
The status report was submitted in response to the court’s April 2025 request that the SEC advise the court as to its next steps with respect to the rules since the SEC withdrew its defense of these rules in March 2025. Shortly following the submission of the status report, SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw issued a statement criticizing the SEC’s response to the court. At this time, the rules continue to be stayed pending the outcome of this litigation and the litigation continues to be held in abeyance pending court action in response to the SEC’s status report. See our previous Known Trends post relating to the stay and pause in litigation.
