The Colbert waiver — the question of whether CBS's late-night franchise operated under special FCC accommodation — now sits inside an agency whose enforcement power the Supreme Court just endorsed [1].

Last Thursday's 8-1 ruling in FCC v. AT&T upheld the FCC's ability to impose forfeiture orders through in-house proceedings without requiring a jury trial first [2]. The case centered on $57 million in fines against AT&T and $47 million against Verizon for selling customer location data without consent. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the orders do not "definitively resolve" legal obligations, so they do not trigger Seventh Amendment protections.

For CBS, the practical significance is procedural. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ended its run in May 2026, but the waiver question — whether CBS received favorable treatment under broadcast licensing — persists [3]. The FCC can now pursue enforcement actions against any licensee without the backstop of a jury trial, a power that previously required either an appeal through federal courts or waiting for the Department of Justice to bring suit.

The ruling also applies to the FCC's broader broadcast license review authority. With enforcement teeth secured, the agency's ability to act on complaints — whether about late-night programming, news coverage, or content standards — is no longer constrained by the threat of prolonged litigation [2].

The waiver question remains a record. The enforcement power it now operates within is no longer hypothetical.

-- ANNA WEBER, Berlin