Daily Times

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday heard the second of three cases the majority conservative bench will consider this term that could significantly curtail federal regulatory authorities.

Wednesday’s case challenges a tribunal system used by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to rule on fines issued by the agency. A lower decision by a deeply conservative federal appeals court ruled in favor of plaintiff George Jarkesy, the founder of an investment fund who had been fined $300,000 for securities fraud and ordered to repay $685,000 in “illicit gains.”

The discussion at the Court on Wednesday focused on whether Congress’s authorization of the SEC to impose sanctions through its own administrative judges violated the right to trial by jury, enshrined in by the Seventh Amendment to the Constitution. The six conservative judges, including Chief Justice John Roberts, raised numerous objections to calls by the Justice Department lawyer, Brian Fletcher, for the complete annulment of the decision by the appeals court.

“What sense does it make to say the full constitutional protections apply when a private party is suing you, but we’re going to discard those core constitutional historic protections when the government comes at you for the same money?” said conservative judge Brett Kavanaugh. The 1977 ruling invoked by the government is “50 years old. And the extent of impact of government agencies on daily life today is enormously more significant than it was 50 years ago,” said Roberts. “This is not your grandfather’s SEC, right?” added Neil Gorusch, another conversative. Two other major cases on the federal regulatory authority will be decided this term by the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.