https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-61007-CV0.pdf
>The SEC brought an enforcement action within the agency against
Petitioners for securities fraud. An SEC administrative law judge adjudged
Petitioners liable and ordered various remedies, and the SEC affirmed on
appeal over several constitutional arguments that Petitioners raised.
Petitioners raise those same arguments before this court. We hold that:
(1) the SEC’s in-house adjudication of Petitioners’ case violated their
Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial; (2) Congress unconstitutionally
delegated legislative power to the SEC by failing to provide an intelligible
principle by which the SEC would exercise the delegated power, in violation
of Article I’s vesting of “all” legislative power in Congress; and (3) statutory
removal restrictions on SEC ALJs violate the Take Care Clause of Article II.
Because the agency proceedings below were unconstitutional, we GRANT
the petition for review, VACATE the decision of the SEC, and REMAND
for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
How do you fuck up this badly. This decision is so badly worded that it also applies to any federal agency with power to enforce penalties outside the courts. Administrative law just deleted itself.
