On Friday, October 2, 2020, Americans for Prosperity’s sister organization, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Gibson v. SEC, urging the court to grant Mr. Gibson’s cert petition. Mr. Gibson, who is represented pro bono by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which has teamed up with former U.S. Solicitor General Greg Garre of Latham & Watkins, has asked the court to grant review of an Eleventh Circuit decision that the federal courts lack jurisdiction over constitutional questions if an administrative enforcement proceeding is pending. At its core, this case raises the question whether enforcement activities of so-called independent federal agencies are subject to any checks and balances by any branch of government — the president, Congress, or even the federal courts — under any circumstances so long as their inhouse enforcement proceedings are ongoing. Unlike criminal cases in traditional state and federal courts, where the judge and jury are independent from the prosecutor, in administrative enforcement actions the agency wears multiple hats, acting as investigator, prosecutor, and judge. A respondent is thus at a severe  disadvantage, as the same administrative body that investigates the target and chooses to bring administrative charges also … Continue reading Americans for Prosperity Foundation urges U.S. Supreme Court to remove barrier to review of unconstitutional administrative actions