The Supreme Court sided with federal regulators Tuesday, ruling that the FCC’s process for imposing penalties on AT&T and Verizon over the sale of consumer location data does not violate constitutional rights to a jury trial.
The 8-1 decision upholds the FCC’s administrative enforcement system and preserves the agency’s authority to penalize telecommunications companies for privacy violations. The case centered on $104 million in fines imposed on both carriers in 2024 for improperly handling customers’ real-time location information, a practice that came to light in 2018.
What Happened
AT&T and Verizon challenged the FCC’s enforcement process after paying the fines, arguing that the agency’s system violated their Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. Under the FCC framework, companies can pay a fine and seek review through federal appeals courts rather than having cases initially decided by a jury.
The dispute created a split among federal appeals courts. Last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with AT&T and threw out its fine, while the 2nd Circuit ruled against Verizon in a similar challenge, prompting Supreme Court review.
The Court’s Reasoning
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the carriers were not denied access to a jury trial because an alternative path remained available to them.
