‘Just Another Weaponized Institution’: Ramaswamy, Musk Slam SEC Following Diversity Policy Reversal

Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday after a federal court overturned a decision on diversity policy.

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans struck down proposed diversity rules from Nasdaq, which mandated that listed companies either include minority and female directors on their boards or explain their absence. The court determined that the SEC lacked the authority to sanction these rules.

Musk and Ramaswamy, along with other Trump supporters, lambasted the agency following the federal appeals court decision. The duo took to social media to question the SEC’s effectiveness and accused it of political bias.

“When an agency like the SEC is so repeatedly & thoroughly embarrassed in federal court for flouting the law, it loses its legitimacy as a law enforcement body,” Ramaswamy wrote on X, previously known as Twitter.

“The SEC is just another weaponized institution doing political dirty work,” Musk posted.

The ruling said that Nasdaq’s proposed rules “compel the companies listed on its exchange to disclose information about the racial, gender, and sexual characteristics of their directors, and to have (or explain why they do not have) at least two directors who meet Nasdaq’s definition of ‘diverse.’”

“SEC approved those rules,” the court said.

“We hold, however, that the diversity rules cannot be squared with the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.”