Supreme Court · US Congress · Donald Trump · FCC · Ars Technica
Supreme Court justices today expressed skepticism of AT&T and Verizon’s claim that the Federal Communications Commission’s
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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.
Key facts
- 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
- One question is whether the FCC ran afoul of the Supreme Court’s June 2024 ruling in Securities and Exchange Commission v
- Wall argued that when a company’s primary regulator “tells us we owe $100 million… you can’t sit around and do nothing.” He said an unpaid FCC fine could harm a company in future FCC proceedings
- Suri said the 2003 version of AT&T sought the “second path” of challenging FCC actions in circuit courts and succeeded
Summary
Supreme 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 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. “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. In the case, the Trump administration is defending forfeiture orders issued during the Biden administration.