Writing for the Court’s majority, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected that constitutional argument, concluding that the companies were not denied access to a jury trial because an alternative legal path remained available to them. According to the Supreme Court, the carriers could have simply refused to pay the fines and forced the government to pursue collection efforts, a process that ultimately could have resulted in a full jury trial.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh notably suggested during proceedings that the carriers had already secured an important concession from the government, noting that federal officials acknowledged FCC penalty orders are not self-executing nonbinding without a jury trial.

John Bergmayer, legal director at advocacy group Public Knowledge, heavily praised the historic ruling. “The Supreme Court got this one right,” Bergmayer said in an official press release. “AT&T and Verizon sold access to their customers’ real-time location data, then failed to stop bounty hunters and even a rogue sheriff from using it to track citizens who had absolutely no idea they were being actively followed.”