Supreme Court Strikes Down Part of Sarbanes-Oxley

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that part of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act violates the U.S. Constitution's requirement of separation of powers among the branches of government. In its 5-4 vote, the court said the president must be able to remove members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which was created by the act.

The board has power to compel documents and testimony from accounting firms and the authority to discipline accountants. Monday's ruling could pressure congressional lawmakers to revamp the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate-reform law, which was created in response to the Enron and other corporate governance scandals in the early 2000s.