Constitutionality of PCAOB, SOX upheld in federal court.

• Position: National - Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Sarbanes-Oxley Act - Brief article

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a small Nevada audit firm challenging the constitutionality of the PCAOB and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The suit was filed by Beckstead & Watts LLP of Hendersn, Nev., and later joined by the tax and government reform activist group the Free Enterprise Fund.

The plaintiffs' case challenged the creation of the PCAOB as a violation of the separation-of-powers principle. The plaintiffs argued that the president should appoint the members of the PCAOB, because the entity functions as part of the...