WASHINGTON, June 4 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.