Senate Confirms Jay Clayton as SEC Chairman
The U.S. Senate confirmed Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, in a 60 to 36 vote on Tuesday. Clayton could be sworn in as SEC chairman this week.
The vote was largely along party lines with Senate Republicans voting in favor of Clayton, along with Democrats Michael Bennet (CO), Tom Carper (DE), Maggie Hassan (NH), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Claire McCaskill (MO), Bill Nelson (FL), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Jon Tester (MT), and Mark Warner (VA).
Clayton’s law firm, Sullivan & Cromwell, has represented numerous financial clients including Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, UBS Securities, Royal Bank of Canada, Pershing Square and others.
His Wall Street ties drew opposition from a most Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee in April, with just Warner, Tester, and Heitkamp joining Republican committee members in support of the then-nominee. The panel approved the nomination in a 15-8 vote.
Clayton agreed to recuse himself for one year from matters involving his law firm, and plans to recuse himself from matters involving former clients for a period of one year after he last provided them legal services.
The SEC is normally comprised of five commissioners who are appointed by the president and no more than three may belong to the same political party. The Commission currently has two members, Democrat Kara Stein and Republican Michael Piwowar – who currently serves as its acting chair. Clayton succeeds Mary Jo White, who stepped down from her post in January at the end of the Obama administration.
