Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/19-508_l6gn.pdf
Page Number: 7.0

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AMG CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC v. FTC 

Opinion of the Court 

an  order  requiring  the  party  to  cease  and  desist  from  en-
gaging in the unlawful conduct.  Ibid.  The party may then 
seek  review  before  the  Commission  and  eventually  in  a 
court of appeals, where the “findings of the Commission as
to the facts” (if supported by the evidence) “shall be conclu-
sive.”  §45(c).  If judicial review favors the Commission (or
if  the  time  to  seek  judicial  review  expires),  the  Commis-
sion’s  order  normally  becomes  final  (and  enforceable).
§45(g).

In the 1970s Congress authorized the Commission to seek 
additional  remedies  in  court. 
In  1973  Congress  added
§13(b), the provision at issue here.  That provision permits
the Commission to proceed directly to court (prior to issuing
a cease and desist order) to obtain a “temporary restraining
order or a preliminary injunction,” and also allows the Com-
mission,  “in  proper  cases,”  to  obtain  a  court-ordered  “per-
manent injunction.”  15 U. S. C. §53(b).  In the same legis-
lation, Congress also amended §5(l) of the Act to authorize
district courts to award civil penalties against respondents
who  violate  final  cease  and  desist  orders,  and  to  “grant
mandatory injunctions and such other and further equita-
ble  relief  as  they  deem  appropriate  in  the  enforcement  of 
such  final  orders  of  the  Commission.”    §45(l).  Two  years
later,  Congress  enacted  §19  of  the  Act,  which  authorizes 
district courts to grant “such relief as the court finds neces-
sary to redress injury to consumers,” including through the 
“refund of money or return of property.”  §57b(b).  However, 
Congress specified that the consumer redress available un-
der §19 could be sought only (as relevant here, and subject 
to  various  conditions  and  limitations)  against  those  who 
have  “engage[d]  in  any  unfair  or  deceptive  act  or  prac-
tice . . . with respect to which the Commission has issued a 
final cease and desist order which is applicable to such per-
son.”  §57b(a)(2). 

Beginning in the late 1970s, the Commission began to use
§13(b), and in particular the words “permanent injunction,”