Potter Stewart

“ The purpose of the self-regulation provisions of the Securities Exchange Act was to delegate governmental power to working institution which would undertake, at their own initiative, to enforce compliance with ethical as well as legal standards in a complex and changing industry. This self-initiating process of regulation can work effectively only if the process itself is allowed to operate free from a constant threat of antitrust penalties. ”

“ Even assuming that Congress agreed with the Court's notions of the appropriate procedures under the Exchange Act, I cannot believe that Congress would have provided an antitrust forum and private treble damage liability to enforce them.
Whether there has been a violation of the antitrust laws depends not at all upon whether or not the defendants' conduct was arbitrary. ”

“ The Court says that because of the failure to accord 'procedural safeguards' to the petitioners, the respondent Exchange is ipso facto liable to them under the antitrust laws. This means that a bucket-shop operator who had been engaged in swindling the public could collect treble damages from a stock exchange which had denied him its wire connections without first according him notice and a hearing. ”