In a major victory for the securities defense bar, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month that the Securities and Exchange Commission cannot force defendants facing fraud charges into administrative proceedings before the SEC's in-house judges. Though its contours will likely be litigated in the coming years, this ruling has effectively put a stop to the SEC's use of its in-house courts for most litigated enforcement actions. This landmark change in how the SEC can enforce the securities laws is the direct result of years of concerted efforts by the defense bar. Without its home-court advantage, the SEC will have to litigate its cases in federal court—a process that is more complex and resource-intensive. But the SEC has been preparing for this eventuality for years.