The US Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in a dispute with major wireless carriers over the agency's method of imposing fines. The 8-1 decision, issued on Thursday, rejected challenges from AT&T and Verizon, which argued that the FCC's in-house penalty proceedings violated their constitutional right to a jury trial.
Chief Justice John Roberts authored the majority opinion, stating that FCC forfeiture orders do not definitively resolve legal obligations and that the commission's factual findings are not conclusive. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas was the sole dissenter. The court sided with the Trump administration's defence of the FCC's system, which argued that in-house procedures do not prevent parties from challenging assessments in court.
The case arose after the FCC imposed nearly $200 million in fines on carriers for allegedly selling customer location data to third parties without consent. AT&T was fined $57 million, Verizon nearly $47 million, T-Mobile $80 million, and Sprint $12 million. While the companies paid the fines, they challenged the legality of the FCC's in-house process, leading to conflicting rulings in lower courts.
The New York-based 2nd Circuit upheld Verizon's fine, while the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit ruled against the FCC in AT&T's case. The Supreme Court's decision resolves the split, allowing the FCC to continue using its administrative process for imposing penalties. The ruling follows a 2024 decision that limited in-house proceedings at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
