Corporate Transparency Act Blocked by US Appeals Court Again

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. US Asks Supreme Court to Unblock Corporate Transparency Act

The Department of the Treasury and the DOJ are not giving up on enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act during 2025

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https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/us-asks-supreme-court-to-unblock-corporate-transparency-act

The US Department of Justice asked the US Supreme Court to halt a nationwide injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act, a move that would allow enforcement of the anti-money laundering law during an appeal.

The US said the lower court injunction should be stayed since the high court traditionally applies a strong presumption in favor of allowing challenged acts of Congress to remain pending a final review, according to the application filed Tuesday.

The federal government is challenging a Dec. 3 injunction by a federal judge in Texas, who found that passing the anti-money laundering law overstepped Congress’ constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause. While a Fifth Circuit panel initially ruled in the government’s favor to allow the law’s reporting requirements, a second panel stepped in Dec. 26 to re-block enforcement.

The CTA would require roughly 32.6 million existing business entities to disclose their beneficial owners to the US Treasury Department, a requirement intended to crack down on illegal economic activity. But the district court ruled that the Commerce Clause can’t be leveraged to compel the disclosure of information for law enforcement purposes.

The back-and-forth rulings have added significant uncertainty to the holidays for corporate compliance officials, who started the month facing a Jan. 1 filing deadline that was frozen, then unfrozen, then pushed back a few weeks by Treasury, then re-blocked.