WASHINGTON—Securities regulators can’t deliver enforcement actions searching for monetary penalties by means of their in-house courts, a federal appeals court docket dominated on Wednesday.
The choice, from a cut up panel of the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, provides to the authorized backlash over federal-agency tribunals that some critics say violate the separation-of-powers doctrine. The Securities and Change Fee, one of many greatest and busiest monetary regulators, has been a focus for the feud. Its enforcers typically litigate instances earlier than administrative legislation judges who’re staff of the SEC, however are speculated to train impartial judicial powers.