Law Students

Federal Court: "Fuck You, F.C.C."

Finally, somebody gives the what-for to those power-hungry unconstitutes at the F.C.C. I've long been concerned about what the surprising, sudden, unprecedented imposition of fines for "fleeting expletives." The F.C.C. and the courts have said for decades that context matters, and all of the sudden these new knuckleheads throw all of that out of the window and start dinging for every possible "infraction" that they perceive.

I love the dissent: "The commission?s position is not irrational; it is not arbitrary and capricious." Sure, even if I give you rational and unarbitrary (which I don't), let's just ignore that it was unconstitutional. We should never forget that the F.C.C.'s entire purpose for existence is to abridge speech. I'm not saying that what they do isn't important, I don't want chaos on the airwaves (most days), but their obligations and power should be drawn as narrowly as friggin' possible. Because, and I'm not saying that the Founding Fathers listed their amendments in order of importance, but the first one is the best.

Full post as published by The Mighty Argos on June 05, 2007 (boomark / email).