2026-06-04T14:19:14.502Z / https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-supreme-court-sides-with-fcc-clash-with-wireless-carriers-over-fines-2026-06-04/
美国联邦通信委员会标志与美国国旗 摄于2025年4月23日的示意图。路透社/达多·鲁维奇/插图/档案照片 购买授权，打开新标签页
- 内容摘要
- 相关公司
- 联邦通信委员会因运营商共享客户位置数据对其处以罚款
- 争议焦点为该机构是否越权
- 首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨撰写8比1的裁决结果
华盛顿6月4日路透电 — 美国最高法院周四支持联邦通信委员会的罚款制度，驳回了无线运营商AT&T（代码：T.N，打开新标签页）和威瑞森（代码：VZ.N，打开新标签页）对该机构的挑战，为唐纳德·特朗普政府赢得一场胜利。
此次裁决以8比1通过。这场法律纠纷的争议焦点在于，联邦通信委员会内部作出处罚决定的程序是否违反了美国宪法赋予企业的陪审团审判权。特朗普政府为联邦通信委员会的罚款评估制度——即没收令制度——进行了辩护。
《路透社伊朗简报》新闻简报将为您带来伊朗局势的最新动态与分析，点击此处订阅。
广告报道
保守派首席大法官约翰·罗伯茨撰写了该裁决意见。保守派大法官克拉伦斯·托马斯是法庭唯一的异议者。
最高法院认可了特朗普政府的论点，即联邦通信委员会的内部程序并未阻止当事方就该机构的处罚决定提起法律诉讼。
“（联邦通信委员会发布的）没收令并未最终确定当事方的法律义务，”罗伯茨写道。
“而且委员会的事实认定不具有终局性，”罗伯茨表示，“因此，委员会在没有陪审团参与的情况下作出没收令，并不违反宪法。”
这起法律纠纷是最新一起检验联邦机构内部执法安排是否违反宪法陪审团审判权的案件。此前，最高法院在2024年限制了美国证券交易委员会内部执法程序的权力。
联邦通信委员会认定AT&T和威瑞森未经用户同意非法向第三方出售客户位置数据访问权限，分别对两家公司处以5700万美元和近4700万美元的罚款。
总体而言，联邦通信委员会对其称未能保护客户数据的运营商共计处以近2亿美元的罚款。其中对T-Mobile（代码：TMUS.O，打开新标签页）罚款8000万美元，对2020年被T-Mobile收购的斯普林特罚款1200万美元。
威瑞森和AT&T缴纳了被处以的罚款，但同时提起了法律诉讼，最终导致美国各地区上诉法院对联邦通信委员会内部罚款程序的合法性产生分歧。
在威瑞森的案件中，总部位于纽约的美国第二巡回上诉法院维持了罚款判决。该法院裁定，只要被告方能够在法庭上挑战政府的追缴行动，宪法就允许联邦通信委员会先作出处罚评估，这一裁决促使威瑞森向最高法院提起上诉。
在AT&T的案件中，总部位于新奥尔良的美国第五巡回上诉法院裁定，联邦通信委员会对不当行为的初步认定和罚款决定，剥夺了该公司享有的宪法陪审团审判权。这一裁决促使联邦通信委员会向最高法院提起上诉。
在为联邦通信委员会的内部制度辩护时，美国司法部律师辩称，该机构的处罚评估不具有约束力。律师们表示，如果政府在法庭上提起执法诉讼，将允许企业在陪审团面前陈述自己的主张。
而运营商方面则认为，联邦通信委员会的制度不当利用内部程序处理本应在法庭进行的流程，剥夺了他们的陪审团审判权。他们还补充称，联邦通信委员会的初步处罚评估会在被告方获得庭审机会之前就对其声誉造成损害。
最高法院在2025年还就联邦通信委员会作出了一项重要裁决，认可了该机构为其数十亿美元的项目提供资金的方式，该项目旨在为低收入和农村美国人及其他受益群体扩展电话和宽带互联网接入服务。
约翰·克鲁泽尔报道；威尔·邓汉姆编辑
我们的准则：汤森路透信托原则。
US Supreme Court backs FCC in clash with wireless carriers over fines
2026-06-04T14:19:14.502Z / https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/us-supreme-court-sides-with-fcc-clash-with-wireless-carriers-over-fines-2026-06-04/
United States Federal Communications Commission logo and U.S. flag are seen in this illustration taken April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
- Summary
- Companies
- FCC fined carriers for sharing customer location data
- At issue was whether agency exceeded its authority
- Chief Justice John Roberts authors 8-1 ruling
WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court backed the Federal Communications Commission’s system for levying fines, ruling on Thursday against wireless carriers AT&T
(T.N), opens new tab
and Verizon
(VZ.N), opens new tab
in their challenge to the agency and handing a win to President Donald Trump’s administration.
The ruling was 8-1. At issue in the legal dispute was whether the agency’s in-house proceedings for imposing the penalties deprived the companies of their right to a jury trial under the U.S. Constitution. Trump’s administration defended the FCC’s system for assessing financial penalties, known as forfeiture orders.
The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.
Report Ad
Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts authored with ruling. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas was the court’s lone dissenter.
The court embraced the Trump administration’s argument that the FCC’s in-house system does not stop parties from bringing legal challenges to the agency’s assessments.
“Forfeiture orders issued (by the FCC) do not definitively resolve the parties’ legal obligations,” Roberts wrote.
“And the commission’s factual findings are not conclusive,” Roberts said. “It thus does not offend the Constitution for the commission to issue forfeiture orders without the involvement of a jury.”
The legal dispute marked the latest case to test whether a federal agency’s internal enforcement arrangement violates the constitutional right to a jury trial after the Supreme Court in 2024 curbed the power of in-house proceedings at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The FCC fined AT&T $57 million and Verizon nearly $47 million after the agency concluded that the companies had unlawfully sold access to customer location data to third parties without securing the consent of users.
In all, the FCC imposed nearly $200 million in fines on carriers that it said failed to safeguard customer data. It fined T-Mobile
(TMUS.O), opens new tab
$80 million and Sprint, which T-Mobile acquired in 2020, $12 million.
Verizon and AT&T paid the fines they were assessed, but also filed legal challenges that eventually led to a split among regional U.S. appellate courts over the lawfulness of the FCC’s in-house procedure for imposing the penalties.
In Verizon’s case, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the fine. The Constitution permits the FCC to provide an initial penalty assessment as long as an accused party can challenge the government’s collection efforts in court, the 2nd Circuit ruled, prompting Verizon’s appeal to the Supreme Court.
In AT&T’s case, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the FCC’s initial assessment of wrongdoing and a fine deprived the company of its constitutional right to a jury trial. That ruling prompted the FCC to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In the government’s defense of the FCC’s in-house system, Justice Department lawyers had argued that the agency’s assessments are not binding. If the government were to bring an enforcement action in court, it would allow the companies to make their case before a jury, the lawyers argued.
The companies, for their part, said that the FCC’s system impermissibly uses in-house proceedings for a process that belongs in court, depriving them of their right to a jury trial. The FCC’s initial assessments, they added, inflict reputational harm before the accused have had their day in court.
The Supreme Court in 2025 also issued an important ruling involving the FCC, endorsing the way the agency funds its multi-billion-dollar program to expand phone and broadband internet access to low-income and rural Americans and other beneficiaries.
Reporting by John Kruzel; Editing by Will Dunham
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
发表回复