In a landmark decision issued last week, SEC v. Jarkesy, the Supreme Court held that the Seventh Amendment guarantees a defendant a jury trial when the SEC seeks civil penalties against the defendant for committing securities...more
Last week, the Fifth Circuit handed down an across-the-board rejection of four constitutional challenges raised by gene sequencing company Illumina in defending against the Federal Trade Commission’s merger challenge. Bah!...more
In a landmark decision, the Fifth Circuit struck down the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) primary mechanism for enforcing the nation’s securities laws. In Jarkesy v. Securities and Exchange Commission, a...more
When Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act, it expanded the SEC’s power to use its in-house administrative forum to bring enforcement actions. Supporters said this change promoted investor protection by giving the SEC a more...more
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a major decision on May 18, 2022 holding Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) administrative adjudications unconstitutional on multiple...more
Key Points On May 18, 2022, in Jarkesy v. SEC, No. 20-61007 (5th Cir. May 18, 2022), a split panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit identified three independent constitutional flaws in the administrative...more
In Jarkesy v. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a remarkable opinion holding numerous aspects of the SEC’s administrative enforcement regime are unconstitutional. The May...more
The Supreme Court is considering a cert petition requesting that it hear the Lucia case, which we have blogged about extensively due to its potential impact on the outcome of the PHH case. Significantly, the DOJ recently...more
On Thursday, November 30, 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) took action to settle an issue that had been impacting its enforcement efforts for some time: whether its administrative law...more
The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals’ earlier decision in Lucia v. SEC that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) administrative law judges (ALJs) are employees who are not subject to the Appointments...more
On Wednesday, May 24, 2017, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, sitting en banc, heard arguments in Raymond J. Lucia Cos. v. SEC, a case in which it is tasked with deciding whether the...more
On Monday, May 22, the SEC stayed all its administrative proceedings assigned to an ALJ in which a Respondent has an option for review by the 10th Circuit. (Securities laws provide appellate review of SEC administrative...more
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Bandimere v. SEC, recently held that the SEC’s administrative law judges (ALJs) are “inferior officers” whose appointments violate the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution...more
2016 was an active year in securities litigation. In the first half of 2016 alone, plaintiffs filed 119 new federal class action securities cases. It was also a busy year for SEC enforcement proceedings, with a record 868...more
A recent federal appellate decision casts new doubt on the SEC’s practice of using its own administrative law judges (ALJs) to hear actions brought by the SEC Enforcement Division. In a decision late last month, the U.S....more
The Tenth Circuit recently held that the SEC’s in-house judges are “inferior officers” hired in violation of Article II’s Appointment Clauses, creating a split with the D.C. Circuit over the issue. The Tenth Circuit held...more
Previously, we advised that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s increased preference for bringing enforcement actions in its in-house court had triggered jurisdictional and constitutional challenges to SEC administrative...more
A challenge to the constitutionality of the SEC’s use of administrative law judges (ALJ) was rejected by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In Raymond J. Lucia Companies, Inc. et al. v. Securities and Exchange...more
The D.C. Circuit has affirmed that SEC ALJs are not constitutional Officers subject to the Appointments Clause, rejecting perhaps the strongest of the constitutional challenges to the Commission’s administrative forum. The...more
Amendments to the Rules of Practice Do Little to Address Criticism that the Deck is Stacked - Facing pressure from industry practitioners and in the wake of constitutional challenges in multiple jurisdictions, the...more
The SEC’s increased use of its own "home court" for enforcement proceedings has triggered constitutional challenges to SEC administrative proceedings (APs). See "Defendants Challenge SEC’s Increased Use of Administrative...more
Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that a district court cannot hear constitutional challenges to an ongoing administration enforcement action of the U.S. Securities and Exchange...more
A recent decision by the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit suggests that an attempt by a company or individual that is the target of a CFPB administrative enforcement action to bring a separate action in federal...more
The citadel of the SEC’s administrative forum has been under assault from several vectors over the past year or so, as a chorus of dissenting Respondents have mounted increasing challenges to its constitutional legitimacy, as...more
The SEC recently – and predictably – rejected a Respondents’ arguments challenging the constitutionality of the agency’s administrative forum. The September 17 Timbervest decision was the first of the constitutional...more