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Join the Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group on LinkedInThe SEC ALJs: A Six-Month Checkup | Bloomberg Law
The existential threat to administrative enforcement has largely devolved into a bureaucratic annoyance since last June. While another Supreme Court securities enforcement decision, Kokesh v. SEC, fundamentally changed the way the SEC selects cases to prosecute, Lucia has basically become a problem of resource allocation that will eventually fade into the sunset as the remanded […]
The Constitutionality of SEC-Appointed Judges
The Supreme Court’s opinion in Lucia v. SEC, holding that SEC ALJs qualify as Officers of the United States under the Constitution and are therefore subject to the Appointments Clause of the Constitution, is likely to have far-reaching consequences for other federal agencies that rely on ALJs. Any federal agency that appoints ALJs in a […]
Lucia: The Beginning of the End of SEC ALJ?
The Supreme Court resolved the question of whether SEC ALJs must be appointed in accord with the Constitution’s Appointments Clause, holding that their retention is subject to the provision. Thus the Court held that Petitioner Raymond J. Lucia is entitled to a new hearing before a different ALJ appointed in accord with the Constitution. Raymond […]
Supreme Court Holds SEC’s Past Hiring of Administrative Judges Unconstitutional | Ropes & Gray LLP
On Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a decision in Lucia v. SEC, Dkt. No. 17–130, holding that the SEC’s previous practice in hiring administrative law judges (“ALJs”) was unconstitutional—calling into question the validity of the proceedings and holdings of SEC ALJs that decide the vast majority of contested SEC enforcement actions. With this decision, the […]
SEC fine of radio presenter puts watchdog on the line
On April 23, the US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments about whether the Securities and Exchange Commission’s cadre of in-house judges exists in violation of the constitution. Rather than deliberate on some esoteric administrative foible with little consequence, America’s highest court is about to decide an issue that could dramatically change how justice […]
April 10 Webcast: The Fate of ALJs and Other Critical Issues Presented in Lucia v. SEC
Please join Britt Whitesell Biles and Meryl D. Grenadier for this free webcast.
If SCOTUS finds SEC ALJ appointments unconstitutional, what happens to tainted cases?
The SEC has brought hundreds of enforcement actions before administrative law judges in the past several years, since the Dodd-Frank financial reform act gave the agency leeway to choose administrative proceedings, in which the SEC sets the rules of evidence, over suits in federal court, where defendants have more robust due process rights. So assuming […]
U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Take Up Challenge to Constitutionality of SEC ALJs’ Appointment | The D&O Diary
In prior posts (most recently here), I have noted the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent predilection for taking up cases arising under the securities laws or otherwise involving securities lawsuits. On January 12, 2018, the Court reinforced this impression again by agreeing to take up yet another case arising under the securities laws. In this latest […]
Supreme Court to Review Whether Hiring of SEC Judges Violated Constitution – WSJ
The high court, in a brief written order, said it would hear an appeal by a former investment adviser and media personality, Raymond Lucia, who is fighting an SEC judge’s 2013 decision to bar him from the industry. The SEC alleged that Mr. Lucia hyped how much research and backtesting he put into his “Buckets […]