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Amicus Briefs

SEC v. Jarkesy

CASE SUMMARY

George Jarkesy was adjudicated by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who was improperly insulated from removal. Mr. Jarkesy was also denied his jury trial rights and equal protection of the law, among other problems. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Final Order appealed in this case was issued seven years after his administrative proceeding ended, which puts the lie to the notion that ALJ proceedings save time.

George R. Jarkesy, Jr. was an investment professional and host of a nationally syndicated talk-radio program at the time when SEC conducted its administrative proceeding against him. He raised a constitutional claim against the SEC’s ALJs, who enjoy multiple layers of protection from removal by the President. In an earlier precedent called Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board, the Supreme Court made clear that officers of the U.S. may not be insulated from removal by multiple layers of protection without running afoul of the clause in Article II of the Constitution that requires the President to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

In addition to dismissing Mr. Jarkesy’s constitutional removal claim, SEC violated his Seventh Amendment jury-trial rights as well as the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. The Dodd-Frank Act empowers SEC to obtain a jury trial by suing in federal court or avoid a jury trial by initiating an administrative proceeding. Enforcement targets, like Jarkesy, do not have a similar option. Thus, the law unfairly deprives them of the same right to demand a jury trial that SEC has—a blatantly discriminatory rule.

In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled in SEC v. Jarkesy that the Seventh Amendment jury trial right applies to administrative proceedings, a historic NCLA victory.

OUR TEAM

Mark Chenoweth
President and Chief Legal Officer
Philip Hamburger
Chief Executive Officer
Margaret A. Little
Senior Litigation Counsel

RELEVANT MATERIALS

NCLA FILINGS

Opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court

June 27, 2024 | Read More

Brief Amicus Curiae of the New Civil Liberties Alliance in Support of the Respondents

October 18, 2023 | Read More

Petition for a Writ of Certiorari

March 8, 2023 | Read More

Opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

May 18, 2022 | Read More

SEC Statement Relating to Certain Administrative Adjudications

April 5, 2022 | Read More

SEE 6 FILINGS
PRESS RELEASES

Seven Supreme Court Victories Underscore NCLA’s Success in Limiting Unlawful Administrative Power

August 19, 2024 | Read More

In NCLA Amicus Win, Supreme Court Restores Americans’ Rights to Trial by Jury

June 27, 2024 | Read More

NCLA Amicus Brief Decries SEC’s Administrative Denial of Jury Trial Rights, ALJ Removal Protections

October 19, 2023 | Read More

SEC Proceeding Violated Constitutional Right to Jury and Vesting & Take Care Clauses, 5th Cir. Rules

May 18, 2022 | Read More

NCLA Amicus Brief Criticizes Removal Protections and Lack of Jury Trials in SEC ALJ Proceedings

March 19, 2021

IN THE MEDIA

Big Government’s License to Kill Space Travel

October 4, 2024

The Supreme Court's Jarkesy decision is about keeping promises

July 9, 2024

Chief Justice Roberts’s Two Landmark Opinions Turn Tide Toward Liberty

July 3, 2024

A Watershed Supreme Court Term Will Not Drown The Administrative State

June 6, 2024

The Case That Should Restore Our Government

November 30, 2023

SEE 6 MEDIA MENTIONS
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