Proxy advisers notch third court win against state "anti-ESG" laws
A federal judge in the Southern District of Indiana granted a preliminary injunction on June 26 blocking a state law that would have required proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis to disclose a "written financial analysis" whenever recommending votes against company management, finding the law amounted to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. The ruling marks the third such injunction — followin
BY FRONTIER DESK · JULY 3, 2026 · 1 MIN READ
A federal judge in the Southern District of Indiana granted a preliminary injunction on June 26 blocking a state law that would have required proxy advisers ISS and Glass Lewis to disclose a "written financial analysis" whenever recommending votes against company management, finding the law amounted to unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. The ruling marks the third such injunction — following similar wins in Texas and Kansas — against a coordinated wave of Republican-backed state legislation aimed at curbing proxy advisers seen as favoring ESG-linked shareholder resolutions on climate and workforce diversity. For governance counsel, the pattern suggests state-level anti-ESG proxy regulation faces a difficult constitutional path, though litigation continues in Kentucky, Florida, and four other states, with Florida separately pursuing consumer-protection and antitrust theories against the same firms. Corporate governance and public company advisory teams should treat proxy advisory engagement as a continuing area of regulatory volatility, with outcomes varying meaningfully by legal theory (First Amendment claims succeeding where antitrust and consumer-protection theories remain untested).