Malouf v. Securities and Exchange Commission

Issue: (1) Under what circumstances will "reasonable grounds," as used in the Securities and Exchange Act, Section 78y(c)(i), and the Investment Advisers Act, Section 80b-13(a), and in other federal statutes, excuse a failure to urge before the Securities and Exchange Commission a valid appointments-clause objection to an unconstitutionally selected administrative law judge; (2) whether an administrative-exhaustion requirement like that in the Securities Act, Section 77i(a), without any express exceptions, and in other federal statutes, is a "jurisdictional condition" to review of a valid appointments-clause objection by an Article III court or a "claim-processing" rule; and (3) whether "equitable exceptions" may excuse non-compliance with the administrative-exhaustion requirement in Section 77i(a) of the Securities Act and in other federal statutes that do not contain any express exceptions.