Federal judges struck down state proxy advisor disclosure laws in Kansas and Indiana within four days of each other in late June 2026, handing Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis their second and third consecutive court victories against such laws.
On June 24, U.S. District Court Judge Holly L. Teeter of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas — an appointee of President Donald Trump (R) — issued a preliminary injunction halting Kansas' Proxy Advisory Transparency Act (SB 375). The law would have required proxy advisors to disclose when their voting recommendations broke from company management's position without a supporting written financial analysis. ISS and Glass Lewis sued separately, arguing the law violated their First Amendment rights through viewpoint discrimination.
Judge Teeter agreed, writing that the law "regulates speech based on whether the expressed opinion is for or against company management," and found it failed strict scrutiny, the standard courts apply to laws restricting protected speech. The injunction blocked the law just before it was set to take effect July 1.
