Constitutional Law

Justices Don't Hear Expletives In Case Over FCC Ban on Fleeting Profanity

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, a case involving a Federal Communications Commission policy of banning profanity on broadcast programs. The Associated Press reported that there “was no apparent consensus on the court about what to do in the dispute,” noting that justices, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas “said little or nothing” during the hearing. The news service reported that Justice John Paul Stevens suggested that Americans are “more tolerant” of profanity on TV than they were 30 years ago when the high court ruled that the FCC could punish broadcasters for airing them during times children were likely to be listening. The case arose after the FCC decided to reverse long-standing policy of not punishing fleeting expletives aired on broadcasts. The decision to reverse its policy and start slapping broadcast networks with fines for airing profanities, was sparked, in part when U2’s lead-singer Bono, after winning a Golden Globe, exclaimed, “This is really, really f-ing brilliant.” The awards ceremony was broadcast live.

The Wall Street Journal’s Supreme Court reporter Jess Bravin told the Law Blog that today’s oral arguments were “not as colorful as some in the audience hoped because none of the specific words that have been uttered by such personalities as Bono and Cher were uttered in the courtroom itself. Instead, the euphemisms such as ‘f-word’ and ‘s-word’ were used. However, there was a fleeting moment of excretory reference at the end of the argument when Justice Stevens asked Solicitor General Gregory Garre if ‘dung’ – Stevens spelled it out – would be indecent. Garre said it would depend on the context. So we did get the d-word.”

Full post as published by ACS Blog on November 04, 2008 (boomark / email).