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FCC fined carriers for sharing customer location data

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At issue was whether agency exceeded its authority

By John Kruzel

WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court

agreed on Friday to hear a dispute involving fines imposed by

the Federal Communications Commission on major U.S. wireless

carriers for sharing customer location data without consent in

the latest case to reach the justices challenging ‌the powers of

a U.S. regulatory agency.

The legal fight concerns whether the FCC's pursuit of tens

of millions of dollars in penalties against carriers ​such as

Verizon Communications ( VZ ) and AT&T ( T ) - before the

accused companies had their day in court - exceeded the ‍federal

agency's authority under the U.S. Constitution.

The justices are expected to hear arguments ⁠and rule by the

end ⁠of June.

The dispute marked the latest case to test whether a federal

agency's in-house enforcement scheme violates provisions of the

Constitution ensuring a ‌defendant's right to a jury trial.

The case stems from ​nearly $200 million in fines that the

FCC imposed in 2024 against major U.S. wireless carriers after

the agency found they had sold access to customer location data

to third parties ⁠without securing users' consent.

The penalties included an $80 million ‍fine to ​T-Mobile

, $12 million to Sprint, which T-Mobile acquired in

2020; $57 million to AT&T ( T ); and nearly $47 million to

Verizon Communications ( VZ ).

The fines prompted legal challenges from the companies that

eventually led to a split among ‍federal appellate courts over

the FCC's in-house enforcement of laws and rules it administers.

The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld

the FCC's fine against Verizon. The 2nd Circuit ruled that the

Constitution permits the FCC to provide an initial penalty

assessment as long as an accused party can challenge the

government's collection efforts in court.

That ruling led Verizon to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The New Orleans-based 5th ​U.S. Circuit ‍Court of Appeals

reached a different conclusion in a case brought by AT&T ( T ). The

5th Circuit ruled that the FCC's initial assessment of

wrongdoing and a fine deprived the company of ​its constitutional

right to a jury trial. That ruling prompted the FCC to appeal to

the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority,

has taken a narrow view of federal agency power in several major

decisions in recent years.

The court in 2024 rejected as unconstitutional the

Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house enforcement of

laws protecting investors against securities fraud. The 6-3

ruling, powered by the court's conservatives, said that agency

proceedings seeking penalties for fraud that are handled ​by the

SEC itself instead of in federal court violate the

Constitution's Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial.

The FCC notched a victory at the Supreme Court in 2025 in a

6-3 ruling that endorsed the way the agency funds its

multi-billion-dollar program designed to ‍expand phone and

broadband internet access to low-income Americans and other

beneficiaries.