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Page Number: 11.0

6 

SEC v. JARKESY 

Opinion of the Court 

where a jury could have found the facts pertinent to the de-
fendants’  fraud  liability.  Based  on  this  Seventh  Amend-
ment  violation,  the  panel  vacated  the  final  order.    Id.,  at 
459. 

It  also  identified  two  further  constitutional  problems. 
First,  it  determined  that  Congress  had  violated  the  non-
delegation  doctrine  by  authorizing  the  SEC,  without  ade-
quate guidance, to choose whether to litigate this action in
an Article III court or to adjudicate the matter itself.  See 
id., at 459–463.  The panel also found that the insulation of 
the SEC ALJs from executive supervision with two layers 
of for-cause removal protections violated the separation of 
powers.  See id., at 463–466.  Judge Davis dissented.  Id., 
at 466–479.  The Fifth Circuit denied rehearing en banc, 51
F. 4th 644 (2022), and we granted certiorari, 600 U. S. ___ 
(2023). 

II 
This case poses a straightforward question: whether the
Seventh  Amendment  entitles  a  defendant  to  a  jury  trial
when the SEC seeks civil penalties against him for securi-
ties  fraud.    Our  analysis  of  this  question  follows  the  ap-
proach  set  forth  in  Granfinanciera  and  Tull  v.  United 
States, 481 U. S. 412 (1987).  The threshold issue is whether 
this  action  implicates  the  Seventh  Amendment.    It  does. 
The  SEC’s  antifraud  provisions  replicate  common  law 
fraud,  and  it  is  well  established  that  common  law  claims 
must be heard by a jury.

Since this case does implicate the Seventh Amendment, 
we  next  consider  whether  the  “public  rights”  exception  to 
Article  III  jurisdiction  applies.  This  exception  has  been
held to permit Congress to assign certain matters to agen-
cies  for  adjudication  even  though  such  proceedings  would 
not afford the right to a jury trial.  The exception does not 
apply here because the present action does not fall within