Created by the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 in response to the 1929 crash. Its EDGAR database makes every public company's filings free to read, and its enforcement docket runs several hundred cases a year.
Open the interactive page for SEC →Created bySecurities Exchange Act of 1934, § 4 (48 Stat. 885)
Head appointed15 U.S.C. § 78d(a): President appoints 5 commissioners, Senate consent; 5-yr staggered terms; max 3 from one party; Chairman designated by President (Reorganization Plan No. 10 of 1950) (PAS)
Removal standardno statutory protection — Exchange Act is silent; courts have long assumed for-cause protection (Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB, 561 U.S. 477 (2010)); that assumption rides on Trump v. Slaughter (SCOTUS, decision expected June 2026)
Funded underFinancial Services and General Government appropriations act; appropriation fully offset by Section 31 transaction fees, 15 U.S.C. § 78ee — fee rates reset annually to match the appropriation (Dodd-Frank § 991); former Reserve Fund (15 U.S.C. § 78d(i)) repealed by P.L. 119-21, § 30003 (2025), balances returned to Treasury Oct. 1, 2025
Congressional oversightHouse Financial Services · Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Inspector generalown OIG (designated federal entity under IG Act, 5 U.S.C. § 415 — IG appointed by the Commission, not the President)
Judicial reviewDirect court-of-appeals review of final orders and rules, 15 U.S.C. § 78y; in-house civil-penalty fraud adjudication barred by Seventh Amendment (SEC v. Jarkesy, 603 U.S. 109 (2024))
Comment on proposed rules; report securities fraud through the SEC whistleblower program, which pays monetary awards to tipsters; vote for President, who designates the Chair.
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