1、CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Supreme Court Holds That SEC Administrative Law Judges Are “Officers” Subject to the Appointments Clause June 22, 2018 On June 21, 2018, the Supreme Court released its opinion in Lucia v. Securities and Exchang
2、e Commission (SEC), holding that SEC administrative law judges (ALJs) are “Officers of the United States” within the meaning of the Appointments Clause and, as such, must be appointed by the Commission rather than SEC staff. The Court granted Mr. Luciawhose challenge concerned an adverse decision by
3、 an SEC ALJ who was not so appointeda new hearing before a different ALJ. The Supreme Courts decision is as significant for the questions that it resolves (i.e., the officer status of SEC ALJs and the remedy in Mr. Lucias case) as for the legal issues it leaves for later cases. With over 100 SEC cas
4、es involving ALJs pending before the agency when the SEC acted to “ratify the agencys prior appointment” of its five ALJs, and nearly 2,000 ALJs situated in over twenty-five agencies across the federal government (the vast majority of whom serve the Social Security Administration), the specter of ch
