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Charles D. Scoville v. Securities and Exchange Commission

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, No. 17-4059 · judgment January 24, 2019


Certiorari denied · November 4, 2019
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–10%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a circuit split argued in the petition, a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and a Tenth Circuit decision below.

Question presented

In Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., 561 U.S. 247 (2010), the Court held that the extraterritorial reach of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 was a question of the substantive scope of that statute. 561 U.S. at 254. In so holding, the Court expressly rejected the notion that extraterritorial application of a statute is a question of a federal court’s subject-matter jurisdiction. Ibid. Soon thereafter, Section 929P(b) of the Dodd-Frank Act amended the provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that govern the subject-matter jurisdiction of the district courts to provide that the “district courts of the United States * * * shall have jurisdiction of an action or proceeding brought or instituted by the Commission or the United States * * * involving” certain domestic “conduct” or “effect[s].” Section 929P(b) did not amend or alter the extraterritorial reach of the substantive regulatory provisions of the securities laws, including Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act. The question presented is: Whether Section 929P(b)’s jurisdictional amendments conferred substantive extraterritorial reach upon Sections 10(b) and 17(a) in SEC enforcement actions and in federal criminal prosecutions. (I)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
John S. Williams
Williams & Connolly, LLP

For respondent
Noel John Francisco
Jones Day

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Linked docket
18A1057

Proceedings

  1. Nov 04 2019
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Oct 09 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/1/2019.
  3. Oct 09 2019
    Reply of petitioner Charles D. Scoville filed. (Distributed)
  4. Sep 20 2019
    Brief of respondent Securities and Exchange Commission in opposition filed.
  5. Aug 15 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including September 20, 2019.
  6. Aug 14 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 21, 2019 to September 20, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Jul 22 2019
    Brief amicus curiae of Securities Law Scholars filed.
  8. Jul 18 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 21, 2019.
  9. Jul 17 2019
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from July 22, 2019 to August 21, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
  10. Jun 21 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 22, 2019)
  11. May 09 2019
    Application (18A1057) to extend further the time from May 24, 2019 to June 21, 2019, submitted to Justice Sotomayor.
  12. May 09 2019
    Application (18A1057) granted by Justice Sotomayor extending the time to file until June 21, 2019.
  13. Apr 16 2019
    Application (18A1057) granted by Justice Sotomayor extending the time to file until May 24, 2019.
  14. Apr 11 2019
    Application (18A1057) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from April 24, 2019 to May 24, 2019, submitted to Justice Sotomayor.