The U.S. Supreme Court rejects Verizon’s request to overturn an FCC fine and receive a $47 million refund. According to the court’s orders, the petition is denied without explanation, which ends Verizon’s effort to seek Supreme Court review of the penalty.
The dispute stems from FCC actions in which multiple wireless carriers are fined for selling mobile users’ real-time device-location information without customer consent. Sources say AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon faced combined penalties totaling $196 million in 2024 after the carriers provided location data to data aggregators, which then redistributed it to other companies. Verizon and others argued their constitutional rights were violated in the FCC penalty process.
The Supreme Court previously ruled against the carriers’ broader challenge to the FCC’s enforcement approach, addressing whether the process violates the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial. That earlier decision concluded the penalty mechanism does not violate the Constitution because carriers could pursue jury trials by refusing to pay and waiting for government collection efforts. While Verizon’s refund effort ends, outlets note AT&T and T-Mobile continue their related legal challenges to similar fines.
