Abstract
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act (PSLRA) was enacted nearly 20 years ago in order to combat perceived abuses in private securities litigation. One key provision of the Act is the discovery stay, which applies in any private action under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and which states that "all discovery and other proceedings shall be stayed during the pendency of any motion to dismiss." Congress enacted the discovery stay to prevent the perceived abuses of fishing-expedition and extortive discovery. The application of the discovery stay in complex cases is often outcome-determinative because, absent discovery, it is extraordinarily difficult for a plaintiff to meet the PSLRA's heightened pleading standards. The author argues that the PSLRA does not impose constraints on amendment in addition to those already embodied in the Federal Rules of the Civil Procedure. The PSLRA's text does not include any such constraints, and this reading neither contravenes legislative intent nor leads to absurd results.