The SEC pursued civil penalties for securities fraud through an in-house administrative proceeding. The Supreme Court held that the Seventh Amendment entitled the defendants to a jury trial in an Article III court. The government’s fraud action and request for punitive monetary penalties closely resembled traditional common-law claims, placing the suit within the Amendment’s protection. The public-rights exception did not permit Congress to assign adjudication to an agency because the claim concerned private rights of the kind historically resolved by courts. The Fifth Circuit’s judgment was affirmed.