Episode Details

FCC v. AT&T, Inc. / Verizon Communications, Inc. v. FCC | Case Nos. 25-406 & 25-567 | Docket Links: Here and Here | Argued: April 21, 2026 | Decided: June 4, 2026

Overview: The FCC fined AT&T $57.3 million and Verizon $46.9 million for mishandling customer location data through in-house proceedings offering no jury — raising the question whether those proceedings violated the Seventh Amendment's guarantee of a jury trial in civil suits at common law.

Question Presented: Whether the FCC's administrative forfeiture process violates the Seventh Amendment by imposing civil monetary penalties on regulated carriers without guaranteeing a jury trial.

Posture: Fifth Circuit vacated AT&T's penalty; Second Circuit upheld Verizon's. Court consolidated and granted cert.

Main Arguments:

• FCC/United States (Petitioner): (1) FCC forfeiture orders impose no binding legal obligation — carriers may lawfully decline to pay; (2) the Seventh Amendment right attaches at the Section 504 collection suit, where carriers receive a full de novo jury trial; (3) Meeker and Hof already upheld this model — a preliminary nonbinding agency determination followed by a jury trial satisfies the Constitution.
• AT&T and Verizon (Respondents/Carriers): (1) The FCC's orders deploy mandatory statutory language — "determine," "assess," and "impose" — creating a binding present obligation to pay; (2) the back-end Section 504 jury option offers no real path, as no carrier received a jury trial in forty-seven years under this scheme; (3) the scheme unconstitutionally conditions jury rights on defying a nine-figure federal order.

Holding: Because forfeiture orders issued under §503(b)(4) do not definitively resolve the parties' legal obligations, and the FCC's factual findings in its forfeiture proceedings are not conclusive, it does not violate the Seventh Amendment for the Commission to issue forfeiture orders without the involvement of a jury.

Voting Breakdown: 8-1. Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court, joined by Justices Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Jackson. Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opinion. No. 25-406 (Fifth Circuit): reversed and remanded. No. 25-567 (Second Circuit): affirmed.

Opinion: Here

Majority Reasoning: (1) FCC forfeiture orders create no legally enforceable payment obligation — the agency holds no seizure power, interest does not accrue, and Section 504(c) bars the Commission from using unresolved orders against regulated parties; (2) Section 504(a)'s "trial de novo" requirement renders the Commission's factual findings legally void in any enforcement action — the jury starts from scratch; (3) unlike the SEC in Jarkesy, the FCC holds no administrative collection tools, so a jury makes the ultimate factual determination before the government can collect a dollar.

Separate Opinions:

• Justice Thomas (Dissenting): Thomas agreed the orders carried no binding force and the carriers deserved de novo jury trials — but dissented because the majority granted no relief to carriers who paid in good faith reliance on orders commanding payment within thirty days.

Implications: (1) Regulated carriers may now decline FCC forfeitures without accruing interest or penalties — DOJ must