Supreme Court sides with FCC in clash with wireless carriers over fines

The exterior of Verizon and AT&T stores, Coconut Grove, Miami, Florida. Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images The U.S. Supreme Court backed the Federal Communications Commission's system for levying fines, ruling on Thursday ⁠against wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon in their challenge to the agency and handing a win to President Donald Trump 's administration. The ruling ​was 8-1. At issue in ​the legal dispute was whether ​the agency's in-house proceedings for imposing the penalties deprived the companies of their right to a jury trial under the U.S. Constitution. Trump's administration defended the FCC's system for assessing financial penalties, known as forfeiture orders. The FCC fined AT&T $57 ‌million and Verizon nearly $47 million after the agency concluded that ⁠the companies had unlawfully sold access to customer location data to third parties without securing the consent of users. In all, the FCC imposed nearly $200 million in fines on carriers that it said failed to safeguard customer data. It fined T-Mobile $80 million and Sprint, ‌which T-Mobile acquired in 2020, $12 million. Verizon and AT&T paid the fines they were assessed, but also filed legal challenges that eventually led to a split among regional U.S. appellate courts over ​the lawfulness of the FCC's in-house procedure for imposing the penalties. In Verizon's case, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the fine. …