The Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that the FCC's administrative process for levying fines on carriers did not require jury trials under the Seventh Amendment. The decision reversed the Fifth Circuit ruling favoring AT&T while affirming the Second Circuit outcome against Verizon. Both carriers had paid the penalties before pursuing appeals.
“AT&T and Verizon lose Supreme Court case over fines for selling location data”
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The 8-1 decision preserves the FCC's ability to impose swift penalties on large carriers for unauthorized location-data sales, protecting consumers who lack leverage against telecom companies.
“Consumer privacy protections and limits on corporate power in the digital economy.”
The ruling expands administrative-agency enforcement powers by allowing civil penalties without jury trials, raising concerns about due-process protections and the growth of the regulatory state.
“Institutional limits on agency authority and constitutional jury-trial requirements.”
The decision strengthens the administrative state's capacity to extract multimillion-dollar penalties from private firms without traditional Seventh Amendment safeguards, normalizing agency adjudication.
“Individual and corporate rights against arbitrary government exactions and procedural protections.”
All perspectives accept the FCC's liability findings without examining contested consent mechanics, statutory notice deficiencies flagged by the Fifth Circuit, or effects on other agency penalty regimes.
“Unexamined procedural shortcuts and differential impact on large versus small entities.”
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