Whether the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has authority to punish conduct that does not manipulate any commodities market

QUESTIONS PRESENTED Commodities can be anything sold in commerce. The federal Commodity Exchange Act defines “commodity” broadly, reaching items from pigs to potatoes. 7 U.S.C. § 1a(9). But the federal law, and the federal agency it creates, regulate commodity futures, not every transaction in any commodity. This case concerns the limits on the authority of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to regulate, and penalize, transactions outside the commodity futures markets. The questions presented are: 1. Whether 7 U.S.C. § 9, the Commodity Exchange Act’s “Prohibition Against Manipulation,” empowers CFTC to punish conduct that does not manipulate any commodities market, simply because the conduct involves a retail transaction in a commodity. 2. Whether CFTC violated fundamental principles of due process when it abruptly reversed its 30-year position that petitioners’ business model was not subject to CFTC’s regulatory authority and retroactively applied its new and incorrect position in this $290 million enforcement action. i