Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act

For the first time, the Securities and Exchange Commission has provided guidance on when it chooses in-house judges to preside over securities cases, the Wall Street Journal's Aruna Viswanatha reports. The SEC revealed "it would consider bringing cases before its in-house courts when the alleged misconduct was old or if it presented unsettled legal issues."

The SEC got the ability to bring cases before administrative law judges in the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. The SEC has won 90 percent of those cases.

Defendants are arguing that the SEC's administrative-law process violates their due process rights.

The federal insurance exchange for consumers to shop for health-care insurance policies might be extremely problematic but an exchange for financial instruments started off well, according to The Washington Post's Q&A with  the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commision. Derivatives now must be traded on the exchange.

Chairman Gary Gensler explained: "'A swap execution facility is where buyers and sellers of a special derivative called a swap can meet to enter into contracts. Think of an exchange, like the New York Stock Exchange for stocks or exchanges for futures. These kinds of exchanges have been regulated by the federal government since the 1930s. But swap execution facilities had not been under any oversight. [As part of Dodd-Frank,] Congress decided to repeal these exemptions, with the public benefiting from greater transparency in these markets."'