Supreme Court leans toward backing FCC fines against Verizon, AT&T

After concessions from the government about its limits, the Supreme Court appeared open to backing the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) setup for imposing massive fines at oral arguments on Tuesday.

The justices are reviewing more than $100 million in combined penalties against Verizon and AT&T over their use of customers’ location data. The companies say the process violated their 7th Amendment jury trial right.

But the FCC stresses its forfeiture orders aren’t binding. If a company doesn’t want to pay, it can ultimately still go to a judge and jury by forcing the agency to file a collection lawsuit.

“If the government has maintained the argument that it did below, you would have a good point,” Justice Clarence Thomas told the companies at the onset of the argument, “but the government seems to have walked away from that argument.”

The contours of the Supreme Court’s ruling remain unclear, but the shift left the companies urging the justices to still issue an opinion ensuring that FCC forfeiture orders don’t hang over their heads.

“Let’s remake it where it is not even a paper tiger, it’s truly just a piece of paper,” said Jeffrey Wall, their lawyer who leads law firm........

© The Hill