Justices’ Questions Signal Narrow Ruling on In-House Judges Case

The US Supreme Court during oral argument Wednesday focused on one part of a triple-headed constitutional challenge to federal agency enforcement, signaling it won’t broadly roll back regulators’ power through its potential ruling focused on SEC in-house judges.

At issue before the justices is a US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit opinion that threw out a ruling by the Securities and Exchange Commission against hedge fund manager George Jarkesy. The appeals court called into question agency enforcement via administrative proceedings, finding three separate constitutional flaws with the SEC’s ability to choose where it brings enforcement proceedings, in-house judges’ ...