Broker’s Appeal Testing Finra May Be Premature, Judges Signal

A broker challenging a private financial industry regulator spent most of his time at the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday arguing for his right to be there, rather than on his constitutional thesis.

The three judges on the panel expressed considerable doubt about whether Frank Black’s quest to overturn a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority penalty was properly before the appeals court. The judges’ concern is about their “jurisdiction to hear the case at all,” Judge Stephanie D. Thacker said.

The argument at the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is the latest development in a spate of cases challenging ...