Telco Privacy Violation? Fine! No, Telco Privacy Violation, Fine. Supreme Court to Determine if FCC Can Charge Telcos for Data Breaches

The Supreme Court is hearing two cases (FCC v. AT&T and Verizon v. FCC) that will determine whether federal agencies can impose monetary penalties for data privacy violations without a jury trial. The FCC fined AT&T ($57M+) and Verizon ($48M+) for selling customer location data to third-party aggregators between 2015-2018. Carriers argue this violates the Seventh Amendment's right to a jury trial in 'Suits at common law,' drawing on the 2024 SEC v. Jarkesy ruling. The Fifth Circuit sided with AT&T while the Second Circuit sided with the FCC, creating a circuit split. A ruling against agencies could structurally weaken enforcement across the FTC, SEC, and other regulators, reducing deterrence for data protection violations by forcing all penalty actions into Article III courts.