SEC lets a single commissioner form a quorum when the rest are disqualified

The Securities and Exchange Commission has rewritten its quorum rule so that, in narrow circumstances, one commissioner can act for the entire agency. That matters more than usual right now. The commission currently has just two active members, and a stack of crypto proposals is waiting for final decisions. What the SEC actually changed The SEC adopted the amendment on September 30, 2026, under Release No. 34-106537. It took effect on October 2, 2026. The baseline does not move. A standard quorum still requires three commissioners. The change is the exception. If every other sitting commissioner is disqualified from a specific matter because of ethics rules or a conflict of interest, a single eligible commissioner can now count as a quorum. This is not the first time the agency has adjusted for a thin bench. Guidance dating back to 1995 allowed two commissioners to act when disqualifications shrank the available pool. The new rule pushes that logic one step further, from two to one. A commission running on two engines The timing is not subtle. Commissioner Hester Peirce’s leave of absence took effect on October 2, 2026, the same day the rule kicked in. That leaves Chair Paul Atkins...