Supreme Court weighs Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement power
NBCDec 02, 2023
The Facts
On Wednesday, the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) heard more than two hours of arguments in the case of Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) v. Jarkesy, which is an appeal by the Biden administration of a lower court’s ruling that prohibited the SEC from imposing financial penalties on hedge fund manager George R. Jarkesy.
Jarkesy’s suit, which many conservative and business groups backed, challenged the legality of the SEC's punishments after it fined him and barred him from the industry after finding he committed securities fraud.
The Spin
Left narrative
Conservative judges have never seemed concerned about jury trials when it comes to workers seeking to avoid private arbitration with their corporate employers. This is just an attempt by conservatives to dismantle the agencies policing wealthy citizens who are committing misdeeds. Luckily for those who believe in equal justice, the right-leaning justices seemed unprepared to completely obliterate the agencies at this time.
Right narrative
Agencies like the SEC have grown too powerful, and agencies' in-house judges are nothing more than over-protected political cronies doing the left's bidding. It's time to right the wrong of denying would-be SEC violators a jury trial, and hopefully move on to reining in other overgrown government agencies after this case is decided.
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