A judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas [official website] on Wednesday rejected [order, PDF] a challenge by the US Chamber of Commerce [official website] to a rule governing retirement investment advice. The regulation requires professionals who occasionally give financial advice to be treated as fiduciaries under the revised definitions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the Internal Revenue Code (IRC)—a title that comes with heightened ethical and legal responsibilities toward clients. The revised ERISA and IRC definitions eliminate the condition that investment advice must be provided “on a regular basis” to trigger fiduciary duties. The Department of Labor (DOL) [official website] created the rule in April of last year, and it is set to take effect in two months. Among the various arguments put forth by the Chamber included one premised First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech. Chief Judge Barbara Lynn rejected this challenge as having no merit stating that “rules regulate professional conduct, not commercial speech, and therefore any incidental effect on speech does not violate the First Amendment.”

The ruling comes shortly after President Donald Trump [official profile] issued an executive order and presidential memoranda [JURIST report] aimed at dismantling the Obama administration’s financial regulations created in the wake of the 2008 recession and delaying the fiduciary rule. Trump promised to implement “pro-growth” economic policies [press release] on the campaign trail. Last week the Senate voted 52-48 [JURIST report] to approve a resolution that would repeal a Securities and Exchange Commission [official website] rule requiring oil, gas, and mineral companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments.