Americans 6, Deep State 3

I didn’t watch the debate last night as I was too busy celebrating freedom from a bureaucratic system in which the government serves as judge, jury and executioner when you break one of its millions of agency rules. The Supreme Court decided to make the Securities Exchange Commission obey the Constitution and give the accused a right to a jury trial.

This was a Seventh Amendment case. The amendment says, “In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed $20, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.”

The SEC used its in-house administrative law judge to fine George Jarkesy $300,000 and to confiscate another $685,000 from him. There was no jury. Well, you don’t need a calculator to determine that $985,000 is more than $20. Mister Jarkesy sued for his 7th Amendment right to a jury trial. He fought all the way to the Supreme Court.

The Washington Post reported, “A big victory at the Supreme Court isn’t priceless, after all. It costs somewhere north of $1,144,602.64.”

That was 13 years ago. Surely Bidenomics made even higher the cost of challenging this wretched government.

The vote to force the government to prove its case in an actual court of law was 6-3. The dissent written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor actually made the case for the majority opinion.

She wrote, “The majority claims that its ruling is limited to ‘civil penalty suits for fraud’ pursuant to a statute that is ‘barely over a decade old,’ ante, at 18, n. 2, 22, an assurance that is in significant tension with other parts of its reasoning. That incredible assertion should fool no one. Today’s decision is a massive sea change.

“Litigants seeking further dismantling of the ‘administrative state’ have reason to rejoice in their win today, but those of us who cherish the rule of law have nothing to celebrate.”

Of course we want to dismantle the administrative state. We’re American citizens, not British subjects.

The SEC remains free to file charges in civil court. in fact, it should seek relief in a criminal court because fraud — which it claimed — is a felony. The case should be taken before a jury, not some partisan lawyer who got a plum administrative law judge job.

The same three justices who want to give power to the bureaucracy to fine and extort money from businessmen will free a mass murderer in an instant on some technicality.

But the 7th Amendment is not a technicality. It is a promise, one that six justices on Thursday ordered the government to keep.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, “A defendant facing a fraud suit has the right to be tried by a jury of his peers before a neutral adjudicator. Rather than recognize that right, the dissent would permit Congress to concentrate the roles of prosecutor, judge, and jury in the hands of the Executive Branch. That is the very opposite of the separation of powers that the Constitution demands. Jarkesy and [his] Patriot28 [fund] are entitled to a jury trial in an Article III court. We do not reach the remaining constitutional issues and affirm the ruling of the Fifth Circuit on the Seventh Amendment ground alone.”

Chief justices generally save the big cases for themselves. Believe me, this one is huge because it unloads the pistols of the Bureaucrat Barney Fifes and places one bullet in their breast pocket. They will have to prove their case in a court of law.

The Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post gave a surprisingly factual summary, reporting, “A divided Supreme Court on Thursday invalidated the Securities and Exchange Commission’s use of in-house legal proceedings to discipline those it believes have committed fraud — a blow to the federal agency in one of several cases this term challenging the power of the executive branch.

“Like other agencies, the SEC sometimes relies on internal tribunals with administrative law judges, rather than federal courts, to bring enforcement actions in securities fraud cases or other matters.”

By sometimes, the Bezos Post meant most of the time. The Social Security Administration alone has 1,200 or so administrative judges hearing appeals of disability claims the agency rejected.

Hamas-shielding AP sided with the bureaucrats.

AP reported, “The Supreme Court on Thursday stripped the Securities and Exchange Commission of a major tool in fighting securities fraud in a decision that also could have far-reaching effects on other regulatory agencies.”

Well, that is one way of describing it. I suppose taking the rope away strips the lynch mob of a major tool in fighting crime.

If you cannot enforce the law without using unconstitutional tools that violate the liberties of American citizens, then we the people should fire your incompetent butt.

For my readers who are lawyers, I recommend this piece by Samuel Bray. I recommend it because I did not understand most of it, so it must be good.

Now readers should gather jugs and funnels to catch the flow of liberal tears.

Vox said, “The Supreme Court just lit a match and tossed it into dozens of federal agencies. SEC v. Jarkesy could render much of the federal government unable to function.”

If they cannot function in a constitutional manner, get rid of them.

Axios said, “In a potentially groundbreaking decision, the Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that defendants accused of fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission have the right to a jury trial.

“Why it matters: The decision in SEC v. Jarkesy deals a serious blow to the administrative state, part of a years-long project by the financial sector and conservatives to weaken federal power.”

The NAACP engaged in a years-long project to end the Separate But Equal doctrine. This is the same thing because civil rights are not in the sole possession of black people. Every American enjoys them. And if the SEC wants to punish Jarkesy, then take him to a real court.

NPR said, “Federal courts, however, do not have some of the tools the agency has to protect the securities market — tools such as barring offenders from working in the securities and investment business. That can only be done by the agency, which must take extra steps to do that after it wins in court.”

Oh no! Not extra steps. But if the SEC has tools — powers, really — that federal courts have, then the SEC has too much power.

NYT said, “Lawyers for the agency said juries were not required in administrative proceedings because they were not private lawsuits but part of an effort to protect the rights of the public generally. They added that agency adjudications without juries are commonplace, with two dozen agencies having the authority to impose penalties in administrative proceedings.”

That is not how civil liberty works. In America, we protect the individual from the mob. By ending the bureaucracy’s power to be judge, jury and prosecutor (as Roberts put it in the majority opinion) the Supreme Court did its job. We need a government that fits the Constitution. This one doesn’t.

Chris Geidner whined, “SCOTUS is going into July, destroying executive agency powers along the way.”

I am getting too drunk on this. I must stop before I do something foolish, like try to dance.

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I didn’t watch it but I am told that FJB face-planted in the debate. Instead of running a who-won-the-debate poll, Drudge ran a poll asking who should replace Biden. Sorry, but Democrats are stuck with Kamala.

Do skeptics now see why the Very Sane Genius accepted the debate on Democrat terms? He knew what he was doing and those of us who trusted him are laughing once again at his critics.

By the way, my poll today was written before the debate.