By Daniel Walfish ( December 11, 2017, 11:07 AM EST) -- The Trump administration's new position on the constitutionality of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's administrative law judges is more far-reaching and potentially consequential than is generally understood. On Nov. 29, the U.S. solicitor general, who speaks for the federal government before the U.S. Supreme Court, filed a brief urging the court to review the case of Raymond J. Lucia v. SEC. Lucia is seeking to overturn an SEC fine and professional bar based on the argument that the ALJ in his case was not properly appointed. In an about-face, the solicitor general now agrees with Lucia that the SEC's ALJs are "officers" subject to the appointments clause of the Constitution, not mere employees, as the SEC had argued....