The 5th circuit just defanged the SEC.

https://thehill.com/regulation...nconstitutional/amp/

Yeah, it's been heavily discussed. I wonder if SCOTUS will uphold. It's a major issue.

That said, it just eliminates the administrative law judges, which pushes the decisionmaking power back onto the SEC itself. The Commissioners will have to do more. The staff will have to do more.

Back in the day, when I was working for one of the Commissioners, there was a case that came through from the administrative law judges. It was sent back several times; no one could seem to get it right. So, with my boss's approval, I took it on myself to rewrite it from scratch and get to an outcome and a rationale that the Commissioners could support.

If I could do it then, various staffers could do it now.

The problem is that Gensler is in the process of chasing anyone with half a brain out of the agency. He doesn't want to delegate or empower, at all. And everyone at the agency says to themselves, why do this job as a functionary if I can make a lot more outside the market? It's a variation of what my first boss said to me, and why I went to a law firm instead of the SEC out of law school ... if you go to the SEC, you'll do scut work for a few years. Come to work for me ... you'll do scut work but I'll pay you better, and in a couple of years I'll make sure you make it into the agency at a higher level.

I think they’ll uphold. I think reining in the administrative state is high on their agenda.