During today’s Supreme Court oral arguments, justices expressed clear doubt over AT&T and Verizon's claim that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) violated their right to a jury trial by imposing fines for selling users' location data without consent. Despite this potential setback, carriers might still emerge victorious if the FCC agrees to clarify that its fine decisions are non-binding.

Justices pointed out that AT&T and Verizon could have opted not to pay the fines and allowed the government to initiate enforcement proceedings through a court challenge, thereby bypassing the need for an immediate jury trial. However, there is a silver lining: even if the carriers lose this case, they might still benefit from clearer language in FCC forfeiture orders, which could make it explicit that payments are not mandatory until after a full judicial review.

“It seems like you’ve won on the law going forward, one way or the other,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh observed to attorney Jeffrey Wall, who represents AT&T and Verizon. This suggests that the carriers might indeed secure a legal precedent favoring their position in future cases.

The Trump administration is standing by its forfeiture orders issued during the Biden era, while AT&T has previously won in the 5th Circuit but lost on similar grounds in the 2nd Circuit. Meanwhile, T-Mobile faced defeat in the District of Columbia Circuit, though this case only pertains to AT&T and Verizon.