Supreme Court Rules For Parties Subject To FTC and SEC Enforcement

The Supreme Court resolved a split between the Fifth and Ninth Circuits by unanimously holding that parties to enforcement actions before in-house tribunals at the Federal Trade Commission or the Securities and Exchange Commission can bring constitutional challenges in federal court without first litigating them before the administrative tribunals. The Court sided with the Fifth Circuit, ruling that Congress didn’t intend to bar district courts from hearing constitutional challenges to the tribunal systems. It recognized that Congress had taken jurisdiction away from district courts to review most agency actions, but concluded that structural constitutional challenges are not subject to that limitation. The above-referenced article calls that welcome news for targets of enforcement proceedings by agencies that use such tribunals.