During oral arguments, the justices expressed skepticism about AT&T and Verizon’s claims and seemed to agree that the FCC’s fine decisions are non-binding until enforced by a court. Justice Brett Kavanaugh described the case as a victory for the carriers by any measure, as the government acknowledged that its orders are non-binding without a jury trial.
“It looks like you’ve somehow won a victory over the law going forward,” Kavanaugh told the attorney representing the carriers.
The carriers “tried to avoid all accountability”.
John Bergmeyer, legal director of the advocacy group Public Knowledge, said today’s decision is important to preserve the FCC’s ability to investigate and propose penalties that can be enforced in court.
“The Supreme Court got it right,” Bergmayer said in a press release. “AT&T and Verizon sold access to their customers’ location data, then failed to stop bounty hunters and even a rogue sheriff from tracking people who didn’t know they were being followed. The FCC investigated, found the carriers liable, and proposed penalties – which the carriers were always free to challenge in court.”
AT&T and Verizon “tried to avoid all accountability by claiming the FCC’s established process deprived them of a jury trial,” Bergmeyer said, but the Supreme Court confirmed that was not true. “This decision keeps the FCC from being able to do the job Congress gave it. An agency that can’t investigate carriers and propose penalties will lose one of its best tools to protect consumers and enforce the law,” he said.
Regarding Kavanaugh’s point during oral argument, Bergmeyer told Ars Today that “You can debate the framing, but it was already the law anyway. The FCC can only enforce through the courts.” Had the FCC made a different argument, he said, it would have lost.
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