Supreme Court Will Review FCC’s Power to Impose Financial Penalties

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 21 will consider whether the Federal Communications Commission’s power to levy large fines violates Verizon and AT&T’s constitutional right to a jury trial. The cases of FCC v. AT&T and Verizon Communications v. FCC, which will be heard together, are about whether provisions in the federal Communications Act of 1934 allowing the FCC to use in-house adjudications to levy penalties are constitutional. The dispute is the latest legal case to test whether the in-house enforcement system used by a federal agency violates the Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial in federal civil cases....