Steve Adamske, a CFTC spokesman, said the agency was reviewing the lawsuit.
'Mindless Yearning'
U.S. Representative Barney Frank, who co-wrote the Dodd-Frank regulation overhaul in 2010, called the lawsuit "outrageous" and said he was "very disappointed" in the ICI.
"It's just incredible to me," Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in an interview today. "It's just mindless yearning for the old ways."
Republican lawmakers, most of whom opposed Dodd-Frank, said the lawsuit underscores the need for regulators to weigh carefully a policy's costs against its benefits as they craft the biggest revision of Wall Street rules since the 1930s.
"Economic analysis holds the CFTC accountable to the American people that it will not impose harm on the economy through poorly vetted or unnecessary regulations," said Representative Frank Lucas, an Oklahoma Republican who is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. "Today's announcement should serve as a note of caution to the commission as it proceeds with final rules."
Eugene Scalia
The chamber and the ICI retained Eugene Scalia , the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, to argue the case. In recent years, Scalia has won four cases challenging regulations imposed by the SEC and is also suing the CFTC over a rule limiting speculation in the commodities markets.
"It is elementary that we should not impose new regulatory costs on American investors without first determining that it is necessary to do so," Scalia said today.
The case is Investment Company Institute v. U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 1:12-cv-00612, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).