Companies Might Consider Nonpayment After Supreme Court Upheld FCC Fine Powers: Experts
The court preserved the agency’s power to issue fines, but said those forfeiture orders were nonbinding.
WASHINGTON, June 15, 2026 — The Supreme Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission’s ability to issue fines earlier this month. But companies might weigh nonpayment as an option going forward, according to experts and analysts.
AT&T and Verizon had argued the agency’s forfeiture process violated a previous Supreme Court case from 2024, SEC v. Jarkesy, which said the Securities and Exchange Commission had to provide a jury trial before forcing entities to pay fines.
