The Supreme Court ruled that telecommunications companies AT&T and Verizon did not have a constitutional right to a jury trial before paying FCC fines related to customer location data violations.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, concluding that the carriers maintained an alternative path to challenge the penalties through court enforcement proceedings. The decision addressed whether the companies’ Seventh Amendment rights were violated by FCC forfeiture proceedings.
What the Court Found
Roberts noted that the FCC’s penalty orders were not self-executing and could not compel payment without court involvement. “The FCC’s forfeiture proceedings fit comfortably within” the Supreme Court’s Seventh Amendment precedents, he wrote.
The chief justice emphasized that the government was required to prove its case to a jury before carriers could be forced to pay any fines. Federal officials acknowledged that FCC penalty orders were nonbinding without judicial enforcement, according to court documents.
The Legal Path Forward
The carriers could have refused to pay the fines and forced the government to pursue collection efforts through the courts, which would have provided access to a jury trial. This alternative remedy meant the companies were not denied their constitutional protections, the Court determined.
The outcome aligned with signals from oral arguments, where several justices appeared skeptical of the carriers’ constitutional arguments. Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested the companies had already won on the law going forward, according to reporting from ARSTechnica.
Public Interest Group Response
Public Citizen’s Mitch Bergmayer said the Court’s decision was justified. “AT&T and Verizon sold access to their customers’ location data, then failed to stop bounty hunters and even a rogue sheriff from using it to track people who had no idea they were being followed,” he said in a statement.
This story has been updated. CNN’s Technology team contributed to this report.
