The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday delivered a significant administrative-law win to the Federal Communications Commission, ruling 8-1 that the agency may continue using its longstanding internal enforcement process to pursue monetary penalties against regulated companies. The decision rejects a constitutional challenge brought by wireless carriers including Verizon and ATT in a case arising from FCC investigations into whether carriers failed to adequately protect customers’ location information.

At issue was the FCC’s two-step penalty framework.

The Supreme Court on June 4 delivered an important win for the Federal Communications Commission, holding 8-1 that the agency may continue imposing data-privacy fines on telecommunications carriers through its existing enforcement framework. The ruling rejects a constitutional challenge brought by ATT and Verizon and leaves intact a key tool the FCC uses to police carrier handling of customer information.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion.

The U.S. Supreme Court appears inclined to further restrict federal agencies’ ability to impose monetary penalties through in-house proceedings, with oral argument suggesting meaningful support for telecom companies challenging the FCC’s fining process. If that instinct becomes doctrine, the decision could reshape not only communications enforcement, but also the broader administrative enforcement toolkit used across the federal government.

The dispute centers on whether the FCC may assess fines administratively against regulated entities such as ATT and Verizon, or whether the Constitution requires those claims to be tried before a jury in federal court.

The U.S. Supreme Court appeared reluctant at oral argument to upend the Federal Communications Commission’s internal enforcement process in a dispute brought by ATT and Verizon over privacy-related penalties exceeding $100 million. The case puts a familiar administrative-law question in sharp focus: when a federal agency seeks significant civil penalties, how much process is constitutionally required before those sanctions become final?

The telecom companies are challenging the FCC’s practice of assessing penalties through its own adjudicative machinery rather than requiring the government to proceed first in federal court.

The U.S. Supreme Court appeared hesitant during oral argument to embrace ATT and Verizon’s effort to upend the Federal Communications Commission’s in-house penalty process, a challenge that could have reshaped how federal agencies pursue civil enforcement.

The dispute stems from FCC allegations that the telecom companies failed to adequately protect customers’ location data, allowing sensitive information to be sold or accessed without sufficient safeguards.