Supreme Court Will Hear Lucia’s Challenge to Appointment of SEC ALJs

On January 12, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the Lucia case in which Raymond J. Lucia is challenging how the SEC appoints administrative law judges (“ALJs”). He argues that ALJs are “inferior officers” who must be appointed by the President, the courts, or a department head in accordance with the Constitution’s appointments clause. Lucia filed a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court after the D.C. Circuit rejected his argument. A circuit split was created when the 10^th Circuit reached the opposite conclusion in another case making a similar appointments clause challenge. The Supreme Court’s decision in Lucia may impact numerous past and pending ALJ decisions, including cases involving the CFPB, most notably the PHH case. We’ve discussed the potential impact of Lucia and the related 10^th Circuit case before and will continue to follow them closely.