Case: Federal Communications Commission, et al. v. AT&T, Inc., No. 25-406
Lower Court: Fifth Circuit
Docketed: 2025-10-06
Status: Granted
Question Presented: Whether the Communications Act provisions that govern the FCC's assessment and enforcement of monetary forfeitures are consistent with the Seventh Amendment and Article III.
On April 9, 2026, AT&T and Verizon filed their joint reply brief on the merits, the final substantive submission before oral argument. The reply arrives after the federal government filed its response brief on March 20, and after former FCC chairs, consumer advocacy groups, and the Constitutional Accountability Center submitted amicus briefs on March 27. The reply brief’s filing marks the close of merits briefing and signals that argument is approaching. The full docket is available at the Supreme Court’s docket page.
The central legal question is whether Congress may assign forfeiture adjudication to an agency rather than an Article III court, and whether the absence of a jury trial violates the Seventh Amendment.
A ruling against the FCC could require the agency to pursue forfeitures through Article III courts with jury trials, substantially altering its enforcement capacity. More broadly, the decision may affect how other agencies collect civil monetary penalties. Readers tracking administrative law developments can follow the case at SCOTUSblog and on Oyez.