Respondents in pending or future proceedings should carefully assess their options until several key legal questions are resolved.

The United States Supreme Court recently issued its ruling in Lucia v. Securities and Exchange Commission,1 concluding that Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, or the Commission) are “Officers of the United States” and thus must be appointed consistent with the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.2 The Court concluded that SEC ALJs are “near-carbon copies” of other officers whom precedent made plain were also Officers of the United States.3 But the Court’s ruling, issued on June 21, 2018, left open several legal questions that will take time to resolve and that are relevant to ongoing and future enforcement proceedings before SEC ALJs and other agencies. Respondents in pending or future proceedings should carefully assess their options and preserve a variety of constitutional challenges for judicial review.