NCLA Pressure Leads CFTC to Rescind Its Unlawful Gag Rule Against Settling Enforcement Targets

In re: CFTC Rule Imposing Speech Restraints in Consent Orders

Washington, D.C., June 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Another federal agency under attack by NCLA has run away from its unlawful gag rule. Referencing a 2019 petition filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has rescinded its “Gag Rule” that forbade every American who settled a regulatory enforcement case with the Agency from even truthfully criticizing their cases in public for the rest of their lives. NCLA has long advocated for an end to this policy that violates the First Amendment rights to free speech and free press. CFTC’s new decision mirrors the Securities and Exchange Commission’s move just two weeks ago to rescind its nearly identical unconstitutional Gag Rule, the subject of NCLA’s Powell v. SEC lawsuit pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. The timing of these actions suggests the Administration may be trying to avoid Supreme Court review of this critical issue.

CFTC and SEC both say they will not enforce existing gag orders on people who settled with them in the past, but a Supreme Court ruling that such gag rules violate the First Amendment remains absolutely essential. The agencies’ new policies may not bind future administrations, courts that have approved settlements, or even future Commissions in this administration. Policies that can be made and withdrawn at an agency’s whim—without notice and comment, as was done in these cases—fail to provide certainty. At any time, CFTC or SEC could reverse course, move to enforce existing gags on their own initiative, impose new gags without the authority of a rule, or even resurrect these rules under a future administration.

Representing several Americans censored by SEC’s Gag Rule, and two media outlets that want to tell their stories, NCLA will continue to press its petition for judicial review of Powell v. SEC at the Supreme Court. The Justices must ensure that CFTC and SEC’s gag rules, policies or practices cannot return, that existing gag orders in settled cases cannot be revived in the future, and that other agencies cannot implement gags to silence Americans.

NCLA released the following statements:

“In the last two weeks, two federal agencies have repealed gag rules on the cusp of the Supreme Court’s decision whether to hear NCLA’s constitutional challenge to SEC’s Gag Rule. But the only effective cure against spread of this unconstitutional disease is for the Supreme Court to take and decide the case. Unless the Ninth Circuit’s erroneous opinion is reversed, agencies can just reinstate these First Amendment-violating schemes in the future.”
— Peggy Little, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA

“CFTC allowed NCLA’s petition to amend the Commission’s unconstitutional gag rule to sit in limbo for almost seven years. While this rescission is good news for regulated individuals and businesses, CFTC has gagged untold numbers of enforcement targets. NCLA hopes there is meaningful relief provided for those individuals as well.”
— Kara Rollins, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA

“Hats off—halfway—to CFTC and SEC for finally repealing the pernicious gag rules NCLA has fought for nearly a decade. Here’s hoping federal bureaucrats never again seek to silence their enforcement targets. But if they do, rest assured NCLA will be back on the warpath to once again vindicate Americans’ First Amendment rights.”
— Mark Chenoweth, President and Chief Legal Officer, NCLA

For more information see the petition here.

ABOUT NCLA
NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans’ fundamental rights.

Joe Martyak
New Civil Liberties Alliance
703-403-1111
joe.martyak@ncla.legal

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