DON SURBER ON YESTERDAY’S SEC DECISION: Americans 6, Deep State 3. “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.”

Plus:

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.

Too many grafters and grifters depend on it, though.