There is inherent political tension when federal regulators seek to bring enforcement actions against local government officials, particularly if those actions may impair the local governments' ability to get to the capital markets. That tension raises a question: does the SEC have the ability to take action against local elected officials who make overly optimistic statements as to the financial condition of municipal entities?

Senator Warren appears to take the view that financial regulation is but the continuation of politics by other means (paraphrasing Prussian strategist von Clausewitz). The attack on the SEC Chair is not the first shot fired by the Senator. She has launched a number of attacks on regulators and academics who have not aligned their views with hers. See, e.g., ; .

The Senator's latest missive follows closely upon the D.C. Circuit Court  that the…

The adopted rules may provide some benefits, but whether those benefits will be substantial is far from clear. The increased reporting requirements now inflicted on SEC-registered investment companies seem more problematic than beneficial. Before it imposed new rules, the SEC should have corrected the material deficiencies in its reporting requirements for private funds (Form PF),

Swing pricing is also a rule change that may not produce the benefits anticipated by the SEC. For…

The Court's substantive criticism of the CFPB's conduct in this matter is devastating. From a political standpoint, the CFPB is fortunate that the Court's decision on the constitutionality of the agency's structure will end up deflecting attention from what is, in many regards, the more serious and troubling issue: the lack of fundamental fairness in the manner in which the CFPB regulates.