Another little “internal judicial system.”
This may end up being huge if appealed to the SC
Good news.
Now someone needs to tear the IRS a new one over counting wages as income, among other things.
Isn’t this what they are doing to the January 6th “insurrectionists?”
No reason for an executive branch department to be inconvenienced by the judicial branch, over which it has no control.
Just set up your own in-house court system. Brilliant.
Have a courtroom, with a judge, and judge’s chambers, and a table for defense council another for the prosecution. Have a court reporter sitting there, and some bailiffs with guns and tasers. Instant internal court system. What’s not to like?
Excellent!
Now do the IRS.
The SEC has long engaged with things like retroactive penalties with blistering fines, and zero legal remedy.
The reason for this is that they are a tiny agency, tasked with overseeing a gigantic market system. But this also means that they can only take on really big situations.
Smaller problems, even if egregious, are generally ignored, like the Market Maker scandals, where small cap companies were effectively looted and destroyed by MMs.
Truthfully, I don’t see any way out of the problem.
The administrative state finally takes a hit.
Hopefully the CFPB is next. An agency that funds itself by fining financial institutions/extorting them.
Seems like each of our co-equal branches of government like to intrude on each other’s turf and we’re all caught in the middle.
'Splain to me how that's any different from the Infernal Revenue Service.
Is this to keep Musk from discovering Twitter fraud? Forcing him to go through a court?
Although, he’s rich and can afford to do that.
“’We the People’ are the fountainhead of all government power. Through the Constitution, the people delegated some of that power to the federal government so that it would protect rights and promote the common good,” Elrod said. “But that accountability evaporates if a person or entity other than Congress exercises legislative power.”
That right there, if upheld, should open a can of whoop-ass on all these bureaucrats acting like judges and legislatures.
This is not as big as you may think.
The case originated in 2011 and the ultimate constitutional problem in the agency was corrected in 2018 (how the administrative judges were appointed). So if this case had originated 2018 or later, it would’ve been handled differently from the get go and we would not have this ruling.
Also, it concerns the civil penalties imposed, not the administrative actions taken.
Basically, the constitutional rules as it applies to this case are:
1) The folks at the top of the adjudication chain in the agency must be appointable and removal by the president without requiring any particular cause.
2) If part of the charge against the defendant include charges typically handled in regular courts (like the fraud in this case), the defendant must ultimately be allowed to go to regular court for a jury trial if they want.
3) The statute granting authority to the agency must give clear guidance as to what they can do. Here, the SEC had no guidance as to how to decide if a case should be adjudicated internally or in regular court. The SEC had full discretion in that regard.
In an nutsell, as long as you can ultimately appeal to a regular court, you’re still able to be screwed by the regulatory apparatus.
I would love to see this issue make it to the supreme court. The ability for administrative agencies to act as unaccountable mini-legislatures has gone way too far and needs reigned in. Several judges have expressed a need to revisit the issue.
I would love to see this issue make it to the supreme court. The ability for administrative agencies to act as unaccountable mini-legislatures has gone way too far and needs reigned in. Several judges have expressed a need to revisit the issue.
I would love to see this issue make it to the supreme court. The ability for administrative agencies to act as unaccountable mini-legislatures has gone way too far and needs reigned in. Several judges have expressed a need to revisit the issue.
Now consider your local police force & Sheriff who allegedly along with lawyers, judges,( which represents a closed union shop)
Tell you, you have to use one of their BCA's (Bar Card Agents) to have them speak for you in "their" place of worship. Just like all other private contractors.
Justice in America, I think not.
A solid ruling.
L