Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/21-86_l5gm.pdf
Page Number: 45.0

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AXON ENTERPRISE, INC. v. FTC 

GORSUCH, J., concurring in judgment 

17–18.  For its part, Axon has endured a similarly tortuous 
path.  Over the course of three years, the district court dis-
missed its case, 452 F. Supp.  3d 882 (Ariz. 2020), and the 
court of appeals affirmed, 986 F. 3d 1173 (CA9 2021), only 
to have this Court reverse that judgment today. 

This  is  what  a  win  looks  like  under  Thunder  Basin. 
When you replace clear jurisdictional rules with a jumble of 
factors, the room for disagreement grows.  The incentive to 
litigate increases.  Years and fortunes are lost just figuring 
out where a case belongs.  Ms. Cochran and Axon have al-
ready endured multi-year odysseys through the entire fed-
eral judicial system—and no judge yet has breathed a word 
about the merits of their claims.  Nor can I fault the district 
court  in  Ms.  Cochran’s  case,  or  all  of  the  lower  courts  in 
Axon’s  case,  for  thinking  the  Thunder  Basin  factors  re-
quired dismissal.  When we give our lower-court colleagues 
such  confused  instructions,  we  guarantee  different  courts 
will regularly reach different outcomes on the same facts. 
Maybe even worse is what Thunder Basin means for oth-
ers.  Not many possess the perseverance of Ms. Cochran and 
Axon.  The cost, time, and uncertainty associated with liti-
gating  a  raft  of  opaque  jurisdictional  factors  will  deter 
many people from even trying to reach the court of law to 
which they are entitled.  Nor is the loss of a day in court in 
favor of one before an agency a small thing.  Agencies like 
the  SEC  and  FTC  combine  the  functions  of  investigator, 
prosecutor, and judge under one roof.  They employ relaxed 
rules of procedure and evidence—rules they make for them-
selves.    The  numbers  reveal  just  how  tilted  this  game  is. 
From 2010 to 2015, the SEC won 90% of its contested in-
house proceedings compared to 69% of the cases it brought 
in federal court.  See G. Mark, Response: SEC Enforcement 
Discretion, 94 Texas L. Rev. 261, 262 (2016).  Meanwhile, 
some say the FTC has not lost an in-house proceeding in 25 
years.  See Brief for Petitioner in No. 21–86, p. 47.  But see 
Brief for American Antitrust Institute as Amicus Curiae in