SEC IN-HOUSE TRIBUNALS: A CALL FOR REFORM

I IN the aftermath of the 1929 crash of the stock market and during the height of the Great Depression, the federal government took steps to strengthen U.S. securities laws.1 To that end, via the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the U.S. Congress (Congress) created the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whose “mission [is] to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.”2 As “the primary overseer and regulator of the U.S. securities markets,” the SEC has the power to bring enforcement actions against parties it believes to be in violation of the nation’s securities laws.