> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.fdaweb.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Supreme Court to Consider Disgorgement Legality
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/supreme-court-to-consider-disgorgement-legality/
- Published: 2019-11-13T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T15:52:55.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5145490

In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) case that could affect FDA and several other government agencies that routinely seek disgorgement, the Supreme Court has agreed to consider the question of whether the SEC has the legal authority to seek disgorgement. The case follows a unanimous high court 6/2017 decision that disgorgement as imposed by the SEC operates as a “penalty” and is subject to a five-year statute of limitations. In that decision the court explicitly declined to address whether courts have authority to issue SEC disgorgement. Now that question will be considered.

In an [analysis](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/supreme-court-to-hear-case-on-validity-92539/?ref=fdaweb.com), Ropes & Gray says the SEC persuaded federal courts to order defendants to pay disgorgement beginning in the 1970s. Congress expressly granted the SEC the ability to obtain civil money penalties in 1990 but the agency has continued to rely on disgorgement as well. The analysis says that in 2018 the SEC obtained orders imposing $2.51 billion of disgorgement, compared to $1.44 billion in civil monetary penalties.

The firm notes that legislation is pending in both the House and Senate that could effectively overturn the court decision imposing a five-year statute of limitations. The House Financial Services Committee recently approved bipartisan legislation to codify the SEC’s ability to seek disgorgement and to extend the statute of limitations on disgorgement claims to 14 years.

Ropes & Gray says the court will likely hear arguments early next year and issue a decision by summer.