GoKawiilSupreme Court justices today expressed skepticism of AT&T and Verizon’s claim that the Federal Communications Commission’s procedure for imposing fines violated their right to a jury trial. But companies regulated by the FCC may come out ahead in the long run even if the carriers lose this case.
AT&T and Verizon, which were fined a total of $104 million for selling users’ real-time location data without consent, claim the FCC’s penalty system deprived them of the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. During oral arguments today, justices repeatedly pointed out that carriers could have obtained a jury trial if they chose not to pay the fines and waited for the government to begin an enforcement action in court.
But even if AT&T and Verizon lose this case, they could get a victory of sorts because the FCC and justices seem to agree that FCC fine decisions are nonbinding and require a court decision to enforce them. A government lawyer told justices that the FCC may change the language of its forfeiture orders to make it clearer that fines don’t have to be paid until after a jury trial.
“It seems like you’ve won on the law going forward, one way or the other,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh told attorney Jeffrey Wall, who represents AT&T and Verizon. “Your reply brief begins, ‘the government’s in retreat.’ That’s absolutely correct.”
In the case, the Trump administration is defending forfeiture orders issued during the Biden administration. AT&T previously convinced the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to overturn its fine, while Verizon lost in the 2nd Circuit. T-Mobile lost a similar ruling in the District of Columbia Circuit, but the Supreme Court proceedings are on the AT&T and Verizon cases only.