Washington, D.C., Feb. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed an amici curiae brief in FCC v. AT&T and Verizon Communications v. FCC today urging the Supreme Court to rule that telecommunications companies have a right to a jury trial when FCC tries to fine them for allegedly failing to protect customer data. The Communications Act allows FCC to order companies to pay fines without the opportunity for a jury trial. NCLA asks the Justices to strengthen jury trial rights once again and overturn this Seventh Amendment violation.
The Communications Act requires FCC to get a court order to force companies to pay its administrative fines, which the parties and lower courts in this case suggest is unusual. It is not. This need for courts to enforce fines from government agencies is very common; in fact, it is the bare minimum that the Constitution requires for forcing private parties to obey agencies’ orders. The Seventh Amendment entitles companies to a trial by jury in these situations, not just a ruling from an agency bureaucrat.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has also historically violated Americans’ rights this way, denying jury trials when it orders or thereafter seeks to collect administrative fines from its enforcement targets. However, the Supreme Court in 2024 ruled in SEC v. Jarkesy that agencies’ targets have a right to a jury trial in administrative enforcement cases. NCLA argues that this jury trial right also applies whenever FCC or SEC imposes or tries to collect an administrative fine. Lower courts have wrongly held that SEC enforcement targets are not entitled to jury trials in penalty-collection cases. So, unless the Supreme Court makes clear here that those lower court decisions are wrong, and clarifies that there is a fundamental right to a jury trial in FCC and SEC penalty cases, lower courts might continue to unlawfully deny jury trials in penalty-collection cases going forward.
NCLA is pleased to have drafted this brief on behalf of itself and our co-amici: the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors and the National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center.
NCLA released the following statements:
“The FCC plainly deprived AT&T and Verizon of their jury-trial rights when it administratively penalized them without a jury trial. But there’s a huge disconnect between FCC’s assurance that these companies would eventually get a jury trial if the agency tried to collect its penalties in court and SEC’s insistence for decades that no jury trial is required when it collects administrative penalties in court. The Court should ensure that jury trial rights are preserved before any of these penalties can be imposed or collected.”
— Russ Ryan, Senior Litigation Counsel, NCLA
“Trial by bureaucrat does not—and cannot under our Constitution—replace the right to trial by jury.”
— Mark Chenoweth, President, NCLA
For more information visit the amicus page here.
ABOUT NCLA
NCLA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group founded by prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger to protect constitutional freedoms from violations by the Administrative State. NCLA’s public-interest litigation and other pro bono advocacy strive to tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies and to foster a new civil liberties movement that will help restore Americans’ fundamental rights.
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