WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration Thursday in a case about the power of federal regulators to enforce data privacy laws on telecommunications companies.
The 8-1 decision upheld one of the Federal Communications Commission's key tools, though the case already surfaced an apparent change in how regulations are enforced.
The appeal from telecommunications giants Verizon and AT&T challenged multimillion-dollar penalties imposed after the agency determined that the companies had failed to safeguard customer location data.
The companies argued that the FCC's process was unconstitutional because it gave them little opportunity to tell their side of the story in court.
The Republican administration defended the fines are an essential regulatory tool. But the government also said companies did not have to pay the penalties right away, an apparent shift in practice expected to give the companies more flexibility.
Other agencies use similar enforcement methods, so a sweeping victory win for AT&T and Verizon could have had widespread effects, advocates said.
The Supreme Court's conservative majority has gone the other way and limited the power of federal agencies before. That includes overturning a decades-old decision that had given regulators an advantage in court and stripping another agency of a major tool in fighting securities fraud.
