The SEC issued an Order staying any administrative proceeding scheduled to appear before an administrative law judge ("ALJ"), effective immediately. The Order follows the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that the SEC practice of hiring ALJs was unconstitutional. According to the Order, the stay "shall remain operative for 30 days or [until] further order of the Commission." However, the SEC Commission may still reassign any proceeding "pending before an [ALJ] to the Commission itself or to any member of the Commission at any time."
Commentary / Kyle DeYoung
The SEC's Order is the result of the uncertainty created following the Supreme Court's decision in Lucia. The Order may be an indication that the SEC thinks it must do more than simply rely on its previous ratification of its ALJs to comply with the Supreme Court's decision. It will be interesting to see if the SEC formally appoints its ALJs, reassigns pending administrative proceedings to different ALJs, presides over administrative proceedings itself, or takes additional steps to fix the constitutional errors in its administrative proceedings once and for all.
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