By Stephen Bedell, Thomas Krebs and Ellen Wheeler ( August 20, 2018, 1:14 PM EDT) -- Throughout the 20th century, the national securities exchanges were owned by their members and functioned strictly as self-regulatory organizations. Over the past decade, the exchanges have demutualized and are now publicly held, for-profit companies collectively generating billions of dollars in profits for their shareholders. Despite the fact that the exchanges are now profit-seeking commercial enterprises, they continue to argue that they are absolutely immune from suits arising from a wide range of competitive activity. Courts, however, are rejecting these arguments and are holding exchanges accountable where they are acting in their own interests, and not as delegates of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission....