CTIA, Chamber of Commerce Want FCC Forfeiture Process Struck Down

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2025 – Major industry groups are joining Verizon and AT&T in asking the Supreme Court to find the Federal Communications Commission’s process for issuing fines is unconstitutional.

The FCC has also asked the high court to resolve a 2-1 circuit court split on the issue, but naturally is seeking to have its chief enforcement mechanism upheld. Justices haven’t yet agreed to take the case, but the Supreme Court typically weighs in when circuit courts issue conflicting opinions.

The two courts that upheld the FCC’s forfeiture process essentially held Congress could vest “jury-free, adjudicatory power with federal agencies as long as those agencies then hold targets in years-long purgatory with what ultimately has turned out to be an illusory opportunity for a jury trial at the end of the tunnel,” argued CTIA, the wireless industry trade group, in a Friday brief. “That cannot be the law.”