Judge: SEC's Internal Tribunal Likely Unconstitutional

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman of the Southern District of New York ruled last week that the Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to lose the fight to defend its use of in-house judges as constitutional, The Wall Street Journal's Eaglesham reports. Berman, who previously ruled the SEC’s system of having its in-house judges named by the staff, rather than the agency’s commissioners, may violate the constitution, said he thinks the SEC's appeals will fail.

The SEC in-house courts have been criticized as unfairly biased in favor of the agency's position in cases.