FREE ENTERPRISE FUND V. PCAOB: IN WHICH A GREAT CASE MAKES BAD LAW

[...]this Note explains why the judicial remedy was conceptually ineffectual and why it created bad constitutional doctrine going forward.10 I. THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT AND THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE PCAOB In 2002, a bipartisan Congress passed SOX in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals.11 SOX was designed to curb the worst of the accounting abuses through new federal regulations and oversight.12 Many of the tasks were assigned to the SEC, but SOX also created the PCAOB, a separate agency, which had broad powers to regulate, investigate, and sanction all accounting firms that audited public companies.13 First, the Board managed the mandatory registration of all public accounting firms.14 Next, the Board promulgated rules regarding "auditing, quality control, ethics, independence, and other standards"15 for the firms, including a long list of mandatory rules found in SOX.16 The Board retained a residual power to make any other rules17 "as may be necessary or appropriate in the public interest. [...]SOX stated that the Board was "not an agency or establishment of the United States Government . .