Axon Enterprise, Inc. v Federal Trade Commission on the Jurisdiction of Administrative Law Judges

In Axon Enterprises, Inc. v Federal Trade Commission, a unanimous Supreme Court held that federal district courts retain jurisdiction to hear constitutional challenges to administrative proceedings at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Corporations and persons who may be regulated by administrative agencies may now bypass hearings by the administrative law judges (ALJ) within the executive agency when they are challenging the constitutionality of those judges, their tenure of office, or of the agency’s internal procedures for adjudicating disputes. Axon will make it much easier for the federal courts to hear constitutional challenges to the design of independent agencies, including questions about the President’s control over ALJs.