During oral argumentsthe justices were skeptical of AT&T and Verizon’s claims and agreed that FCC fines are not binding until they are enforced by a court. Judge Brett Kavanaugh characterized the case as a victory for the carriers in both cases because the government acknowledged that its orders are not binding without a jury trial.
“It looks like you won the law one way or another,” Kavanaugh told the attorney representing the carriers.
Carriers ‘tried to evade all responsibility’
Today’s ruling is important to preserve the FCC’s ability to investigate and propose penalties that can be enforced in court, said John Bergmeier, legal director of the advocacy group Public Knowledge.
“The Supreme Court got it right,” Bergmeier said press release. “AT&T and Verizon sold access to their customers’ location data, then failed to stop bounty hunters and even rogue sheriffs from using it to track people who had no idea they were being tracked. The FCC investigated, held the carriers accountable, and offered fines — which the carriers could always challenge in court.”
AT&T and Verizon “tried to avoid all liability by arguing that the FCC’s established process denied them a jury trial,” but the Supreme Court confirmed that was not true, Bergmeier said. “This decision empowers the FCC to do what Congress has told it to do. An agency that fails to investigate carriers and impose penalties will lose one of its best tools to protect consumers and enforce the law,” he said.
As for Kavanaugh’s point during oral arguments, Bergmayer told Ars today that “you can debate the framework, but it was already the law. The FCC can only enforce it through the courts.” Had the FCC argued differently, it would have lost, he said.
