- Bill Morgan's Opinion
- Legal Error Ruled Out
- Judges' Arguments
Attorney and XRP enthusiast Bill Morgan recently shared his thoughts on the likelihood of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) appealing the Ripple lawsuit decision. Morgan suggests that the likelihood of an appeal is decreasing due to the lack of clear legal errors in the judgment.
Bill Morgan's Opinion
Bill Morgan notes that if merely legal considerations are influencing the decision whether to appeal, the likelihood of the SEC filing an appeal decreases. In his tweet from August 28, 2024, he stated, "I am increasingly less confident that the SEC will appeal the Ripple summary judgment decision if merely legal considerations are influencing the decision whether to appeal."
Legal Error Ruled Out
Morgan explained that if there is no clear legal error in the judgment, and if the SEC can easily distinguish the Ripple case due to its specific and narrow facts, there may be little reason for the agency to pursue an appeal. He noted that initially, he was 80-20% in favor of an appeal but has since shifted to 55-45%, indicating his growing belief that the SEC might choose not to appeal.
Judges' Arguments
Morgan mentioned that in the Kraken case, Judge Orrick preferred the approach of Judge Jackson in the Binance case and Judge Torres in the Ripple case, which distinguishes between primary and secondary market transactions, over Judge Rakoff in the Terraform case, which did not make such a distinction. Some commentators believe that the judge's reasoning in the Terraform case reflected poorly on the reasoning of Judge Torres concerning programmatic sales. However, Morgan deduces that the positive comments about aspects of Judge Torres' reasoning in the Ripple summary judgment decision in the Kraken and Binance lawsuits seem to assuage doubts about the correctness of her decision raised by some critics.
Morgan doubts if the SEC would appeal the Ripple decision since there is no obvious legal error and the case is narrowly confined to its facts. He believes that the SEC will only file an appeal if non-legal considerations are influencing the decision to appeal.
