The U.S. Supreme Court appears likely to strip the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of its ability to use its courts to seek fines from those accused of violating securities laws and regulations in a case that could have ripple effects across the administrative state. 

During arguments Wednesday, the high court’s conservative justices were broadly sympathetic to arguments from a hedge fund founder accused of fraud that the SEC’s practice of asking its in-house judges to impose monetary penalties on defendants violates the Constitution’s Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial.