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Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Actions Appointments Clause

Burr & Forman

The Assault on the SEC’s Administrative Citadel Continues

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A panel of the D.C. Circuit recently relied on Lucia and Cochran to enjoin a FINRA regulatory enforcement action pending appeal of an Appointments Clause challenge....more

Burr & Forman

Jarkesy Gets His Day: SCOTUS to Review SEC ALJs

Burr & Forman on

On June 20, 2023, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to review three questions about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) administrative courts...more

Woodruff Sawyer

The SEC’s Administrative Law Judges Under Fire

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In addition to creating rules that govern both private and public companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) uses an in-house, government legal system—Administrative Law Judges (ALJs)—to prosecute securities...more

Carlton Fields

Attacks on the SEC Administrative Citadel

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For decades, the SEC Enforcement Division has opted to use the SEC’s in-house administrative law judges (ALJs) when the case involved a registered entity, which was the jurisdictional base for in-house administrative...more

Holland & Knight LLP

SEC in Constitutional Danger Zone Following Several Recent Decisions

Holland & Knight LLP on

The constitutional spotlight is shining on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In the last several weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case seeking broader federal jurisdiction for constitutional...more

Jenner & Block

Fifth Circuit Holds SEC's In-House Forum is Unconstitutional

Jenner & Block on

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

WilmerHale

Jarkesy Case Upends SEC Tribunal

WilmerHale on

On May 18, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its decision in Jarkesy v. SEC, vacating a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decision in an enforcement action brought as an administrative...more

Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP

SEC faces new challenges to constitutionality of its in-house proceedings

Two recent decisions have put the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) in-house administrative proceedings in the crosshairs. First, on May 16, 2022, the US Supreme Court agreed to consider whether Administrative Law...more

Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP

Creating Circuit Split, Fifth Circuit Rules District Court May Hear Constitutional Challenge to SEC Enforcement Action

On Dec. 13, 2021, an en banc panel of the Fifth Circuit held that the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) does not preclude federal district courts from exercising subject matter jurisdiction over constitutional...more

Dechert LLP

SEC’s Enforcement Division Releases 2019 Annual Report: Asset Management Industry Enforcement Leads to Record Numbers

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The Enforcement Division (Division) of the Securities and Exchange Commission released its Annual Report on November 6, 2019, summarizing the year’s enforcement activity. It was a record-setting year for the Division due to...more

Proskauer - The Capital Commitment

Rocky Mountain Securities Conference: A Review Of Enforcement

The SEC, in conjunction with the Colorado Bar Association and Colorado Society of Certified Public Accountants, recently sponsored the 51st Annual Rocky Mountain Securities Conference featuring SEC officials and corporate...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

PCAOB Amends Process for Appointing and Removing its Hearing Officers

On January 29, 2019, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB or “Board”) adopted amendments to its bylaws and rules that make the PCAOB’s appointment and removal of its hearing officers subject to the approval of...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Inside the Courts – An Update From Skadden Securities Litigators - December 2018

This quarter’s issue includes summaries and associated court opinions of selected cases principally decided between September 2018 and October 2018. ...more

Carlton Fields

SEC Proceedings Face Uncertainty After Supreme Court Holds ALJs Unconstitutional

Carlton Fields on

After much anticipation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC or Commission) Administrative Law Judges (ALJs)....more

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

ALJs Could Get Political With New Executive Order

The new executive order (EO) granting agency chiefs the power to hire administrative law judges (ALJs) according to their own standards—and eliminating the exam and competitive hiring process formerly in place—could turn the...more

Fisher Phillips

MSHA Citations Upheld by Administrative Law Judges Before April 3, 2018 May Be Invalid

Fisher Phillips on

Over the last few years, there has been debate regarding whether ALJs are “inferior officers” under the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. This provision provides that officers, including inferior officers, may only be...more

Polsinelli

Lack of Presidential Appointment May Invalidate ALJ Decisions

Polsinelli on

In one of its last opinions of the term, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Lucia v. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on June 21, 2018, that administrative law judges (ALJs) are officers of the United States, not...more

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP

Lucia Is Likely To Have Little Impact On Waning FCC Adjudications

During its most recent Term, the Supreme Court held in Lucia v. SEC that the administrative law judges (“ALJs”) that preside over adjudications at the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) are “Officers of the United...more

Latham & Watkins LLP

Supreme Court: SEC ALJs Are Officers Subject to Constitution’s Appointments Clause

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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...more

Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

3 Key Defense Arguments For Post-Lucia SEC Proceedings

Orrick's Andrew Morris and Ben Aiken co-authored an article for Law360 in which they identify three of the most significant defense arguments for respondents in SEC administrative actions in light of the Supreme Court's...more

Carlton Fields

Supreme Court Set to Rule on Constitutionality of SEC’s ALJs

Carlton Fields on

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Lucia v. SEC to resolve the federal circuit court split on whether the SEC’s administrative law judges (ALJs) are "inferior officers" of the United States who must be...more

Vedder Price

SEC Administrative Law Judges: Key Takeaways and Lingering Questions from Lucia v. SEC

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On June 21, 2018, the United States Supreme Court resolved a circuit split on the question of whether administrative law judges (“ALJs”) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC” or the “Commission”) qualify as...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

What does the Supreme Court’s Lucia decision mean for the CFPB and federal banking agencies?

Ballard Spahr LLP on

In its June 21 decision in Lucia v. Securities & Exchange Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that administrative law judges (ALJs) used by the SEC are “Officers of the United States” under the Appointments Clause in...more

Jones Day

U.S. Supreme Court Holds SEC's Staff Appointments for Administrative Law Judge Unconstitutional

Jones Day on

In Lucia v. SEC, the U.S. Supreme Court made things messy for the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") by vindicating constitutional concerns over the agency's use of administrative law judges. The Court concluded that...more

K&L Gates LLP

Supreme Court Offers Others a Chance for a Second Bite at the Apple in Federal Administrative Adjudication Proceedings – But the...

K&L Gates LLP on

On June 21, 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lucia et al. v. Securities and Exchange Commission, [1] that the appointment of certain administrative law judges (“ALJs”) was unconstitutional, and that those with matters...more

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