For all the questions about the constitutionality of the "independent agencies," it is a very useful feature of the independent agencies that the political party to which the President does not belong has a voice, and can express its opposition, even if that opposition cannot change the actions of the agency.  

Under the previous Administration, the Commissioners who were in the minority (Commissioners Peirce and Uyeda) were able to voice reasoned opposition to the actions of the…

Concluding that stablecoins are not securities is consistent with not only the Howey test, but also the very limited favorable interpretive advice previously issued by the SEC as to digital assets. (See, e.g. —"The U.S. Supreme Court's Howey case and subsequent case law found that an 'investment contract' exists when there is the investment of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of others."). …

The rulemaking process during former SEC Chair Gensler's tenure reflected indifference to the law, both as to the extent of the SEC's authority and, as to matters within that authority, and indifference as to the process by which rules are to be made. That indifference resulted in sloppy rulemaking—rule proposals and rules that were ambiguous in their meaning or flat out impossible to execute (with the rules on best execution and, on custody by investment advisers serving as examples of…

Under the last administration, the SEC used its rulemaking authority to push political ends that were unrelated to the financial prospects of issuers. Perhaps the most blatant example of this was the climate disclosure requirements. The proxy rules adopted by the SEC assumed that politically favored interest groups would be able to pressure issuers to adopt politically favored positions, even where those positions were largely irrelevant to the business of the issuer, and in some cases where…