• by Wendy Davis , November 14, 2025

Verizon has asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision upholding a $47 million fine imposed by the Federal Communications Commission over alleged privacy violations.

The telecom argues in a petition made public this week that the fine, which was imposed last year, violated the company's 7th Amendment right to a jury trial.

Verizon adds that Supreme Court intervention is necessary to protect the right to trial by jury and "to cabin a sweeping expansion of administrative power."

The telecom's petition comes in a dispute dating to 2020, when the Federal Communications Commission first proposed fining Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile for selling access to customers' geolocation data to aggregators that then resold the information. In April 2024, the FCC imposed fines on the three carriers that amounted to around $200 million total –$47 million for Verizon, $57 million for AT&T and $92 million for T-Mobile.

The carriers paid the fines, then sued to vacate them. Verizon sued in the 2nd Circuit, while T-Mobile brought suit in the D.C. Circuit and AT&T sued in the 5th Circuit.

The carriers made similar arguments in the three appellate courts. Among other claims, the companies said the FCC violated their right to a jury trial by acting as both prosecutor and judge.

The 2nd Circuit rejected Verizon's argument, ruling that its 7th Amendment right wasn't violated because it could have refused to pay the fine, and then defended itself at a jury trial if the FCC pressed to collect the money.

"Assuming Verizon has a Seventh Amendment right to a trial by jury, those rights were not violated because it had, but chose to forgo, an opportunity for a ...trial," the appellate panel wrote.

Verizon now argues in its petition with the Supreme Court that it should have been able to make its case to a jury before the FCC ordered the company to pay a fine, not afterwards.

The D.C. Circuit also rejected T-Mobile's argument and upheld its fine.

But the 5th Circuit came to the opposite conclusion, ruling that the FCC violated AT&T's right to a trial by jury.

The FCC last month asked the Supreme Court to review that decision, arguing that it "severely impairs the agency’s ability to enforce federal communications law."

AT&T is expected to respond to the FCC's argument in that matter by December 5.

The FCC proposed the fines after it came to light that a Missouri sheriff used geolocation data provided by Securus Technology to track other law enforcement officers, without court orders. Securus obtained the location data from the phone carriers. Around one year later, Vice Media's Motherboard detailed how a journalist was able to pay a “bounty hunter” $300 to track a phone's location to a neighborhood in Queens.

The major U.S. carriers have said they no longer sell location data.