An appeals court in Louisiana has ruled that Nasdaq can't require diversity on the boards of companies that list on the exchange.
The decision comes more than three years after the Securities and Exchange Commission approved Nasdaq’s proposal to boost the number of women, racial minorities and LGBTQ people on U.S. corporate boards.
The proposed policy — which was to be the first of its kind for a U.S. securities exchange — would have required most of the nearly 3,000 companies listed on Nasdaq to have at least one woman on their board of directors, along with one person from a racial minority or who identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer. It also would have required companies to publicly disclose statistics on the demographic composition of their boards.
Some conservative groups and Republican lawmakers have strenuously opposed the proposal, arguing the requirements were arbitrary and burdensome.
And on Wednesday the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans decided that the proposal was not legal.
The court said in its ruling that the SEC should not have approved Nasdaq's proposed diversity policy.
“It is not unethical for a company to decline to disclose information about the racial, gender, and LGTBQ+ characteristics of its directors,” the ruling stated. “We are not aware of any established rule or custom of the securities trade that saddles companies with an obligation to explain why their boards of directors do not have as much racial, gender, or sexual orientation diversity as Nasdaq would prefer.”
Nasdaq stands by its proposed policy.
“We maintain that the rule simplified and standardized disclosure requirements to the benefit of both corporates and investors,” Nasdaq said in a statement. “That said, we respect the Court’s decision and do not intend to seek further review.”
The Nasdaq’s U.S. exchange is dominated by technology companies, like Apple and Microsoft, but there are many financial, biotech and industrial companies as well.
The SEC also weighed in.
“We’re reviewing the decision and will determine next steps as appropriate,” an SEC spokesperson said in a statement.
The court ruling comes at a time when many companies are taking a closer look at their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. In October a group of Democrats in Congress appealed to the largest U.S. companies to hold onto their diversity, equity and inclusion programs, saying such efforts give everyone a fair chance at achieving the American dream.
The 49 House members, led by U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, shared their views in a letter emailed to the leaders of the Fortune 1000. The move followed several major corporations saying in recent months that they would end or curtail their DEI initiatives.
A handful of U.S. companies, including Ford, Harley-Davidson, John Deere, Lowes and Molson Coors, dialed back their DEI initiatives over the summer. The retreats came in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court outlawing affirmative action in college admissions and after conservative activists targeted prominent American brands over their diversity policies and programs.
FILE - Commuters traverse New York's Times Square in front of the Nasdaq MarketSite, Wednesday, May 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump will ring the opening bell Thursday at the New York Stock Exchange after being recognized for the second time by Time magazine as its person of the year.
The honors for the businessman-turned-politician are a measure of Trump's remarkable comeback from an ostracized former president who refused to accept his election loss four years ago to a president-elect who won the White House decisively in November.
Before he was set to ring the opening bell at 9:30 a.m., a first for him, Trump spoke at the exchange and called it “a tremendous honor.”
“Time Magazine, getting this honor for the second time, I think I like it better this time actually,” he said.
He talked up some of the people he has named to his incoming administration, including Treasury pick Secretary Scott Bessent, and some of his announced policies, including a promise this week that the federal government will issue expedited permits, including environmental approvals, for projects and construction worth more than $1 billion.
“I think we’re going to have a tremendous run. We have to straighten out some problems, some big problems in the world,” he said.
Sam Jacobs, Time's editor in chief, announced on NBC's “Today” show that Trump was Time’s 2024 Person of the Year. Jacobs said Trump was someone who “for better or for worse, had the most influence on the news in 2024.”
“This is someone who made an historic comeback, who reshaped the American presidency and who’s reordering American politics," Jacobs said. "It’s hard to argue with the fact that the person who’s moving into the Oval Office is the most influential person in news."
He added that “there’s always a hot debate” at the magazine over the honor, "although I have to admit that this year was an easier decision than years past.”
In an interview with the magazine published Thursday, Trump spoke about his final campaign blitz and election win.
“I called it ‘72 Days of Fury,’” Trump said. “We hit the nerve of the country. The country was angry.”
Trump was on Wall Street to mark the ceremonial start of the day’s trading. The Time magazine cover featuring him was projected onto a wall at the stock exchange, flanked by American flags.
Trump took the stage at the exchange flanked by family members and members of his incoming administration while his favored walk-on song, “God Bless the U.S.A.,” played.
Trump was also Time's Person of the Year in 2016, when he was first elected to the White House. He was listed as a finalist for this year’s award alongside notables including Vice President Kamala Harris, X owner Elon Musk, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kate, the Princess of Wales.
The NYSE regularly invites celebrities and business leaders to participate in the 9:30 a.m. ceremonial opening trading. Thursday will be Trump's first time doing the honors, which have become a marker of culture and politics.
Last year, Time CEO Jessica Sibley rang the NYSE opening bell to unveil the magazine’s 2023 Person of the Year: Taylor Swift.
Trump has long had a fascination with being on the cover of Time, where he first made an appearance in 1989. He has falsely claimed to hold the record for cover appearances, and The Washington Post reported in 2017 that Trump had a fake picture of himself on the cover of the magazine hanging in several of his golf country clubs.
Earlier this year, Trump sat for interviews with the magazine for a story that ran in April. Time’s billionaire owner, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, criticized Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, for not granting the magazine an interview.
"Despite multiple requests, Time has not been granted an interview with Kamala Harris—unlike every other Presidential candidate,” Benioff said in a post on X. “We believe in transparency and publish each interview in full. Why isn’t the Vice President engaging with the public on the same level?”
In his latest interview published Thursday, Trump reiterated that he’s going to pardon most of those convicted in riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “It’s going to start in the first hour,” he said of the pardons. “Maybe the first nine minutes.”
Trump said he would not ask members of his administration to sign a loyalty pledge. “I think I will be able to, for the most part, determine who’s loyal,” he said. But he said he will fire anyone who doesn’t follow his policies.
On the war in Gaza, Trump said he wants to end the conflict and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows it. When Trump was asked whether he trusted Netanyahu, he told Time: “I don’t trust anybody.”
The incoming president also discussed his plans for mass deportations and argued he will have the authority to use the military to assist with the effort, even though, as the magazine notes, the Posse Comitatus Act forbids the deployment of the military against civilians.
“It doesn’t stop the military if it’s an invasion of our country,” he said. “I’ll only do what the law allows, but I will go up to the maximum level of what the law allows.”
Trump crafted his image as a wealthy real estate developer, which he played up as the star of the TV reality show “The Apprentice” and during his presidential campaign. He won the election in part by channeling Americans' anxieties about the economy’s ability to provide for the middle class.
The larger business community has applauded his promises to reduce corporate taxes and cut regulations. But there are also concerns about his stated plans to impose broad tariffs and possibly target companies that he sees as not aligning with his own political interests.
The U.S. stock market has historically tended to rise regardless of which party wins the White House, with Democrats scoring bigger average gains since 1945. But Republican control could mean big shifts in the winning and losing industries underneath the surface, and investors are adding to bets built earlier on what the higher tariffs, lower tax rates and lighter regulation that Trump favors will mean.
Associated Press writers Colleen Long and Josh Boak in Washington and Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.
People stand outside the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
An NYPD officer walks outside of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a Time magazine Person of the Year event at the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A cover of Time magazine's person of the year, shows President-elect Donald Trump, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A cover of Time magazine's person of the year, shows President-elect Donald Trump, before a ceremony at the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A cover of Time magazine's person of the year, shows President-elect Donald Trump, before he arrives to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A banner for Alaska Air Group hangs on the front of the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
President-elect Donald Trump takes the stage before speaking at the FOX Nation Patriot Awards, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024, in Greenvale, N.Y. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa)
FILE - President-elect Donald Trump attends a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Dec. 7, 2024. (Sarah Meyssonnier/Pool via AP, File)
