WASHINGTON (RNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court announced it will revisit limits on on-air vulgarity in the court's first case on unsavory speech in almost 30 years.
After Cher and Nicole Richie used expletives during the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards on the Fox network, the Federal Communications Commission reprimanded Fox and changed its policy to penalize “isolated” and “fleeting” expletives that invoke “sexual or excretory organs or activities.” Previous FCC policy had penalized only repetitive and deliberate obscenity on the airwaves.
Last June, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Fox. The court found the FCC's policy to be “arbitrary and capricious,” and it said the agency violated administrative law by changing policy without adequate explanation.
Now the FCC will have the opportunity to explain the policy change to the Supreme Court.
“While the FCC has a statutory duty to enforce the indecency laws,” FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps said, “I continue to believe that all of us — government, industry and parents — have a role to play in protecting our children from inappropriate material.”
The Parents Television Council, a strong supporter of the FCC's efforts to clean up on-air language, also is urging legislators to take on the issue of on-air indecency.
Congress could clarify that “fleeting” profanity still is obscene, said Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council.
Others doubt that any Supreme Court ruling would have any real impact in protecting children from obscenities.
“The idea that they're saving the sensitivities of a few people is ridiculous,” said Bruce Fein, constitutional lawyer and a former FCC general counsel.
Any ruling for on-air indecency standards would not change the fact that there is no such standard for cable or wireless television, Fein said.
The court will hear arguments in the fall.