The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against indecency on television -- but it may only be temporary.
Tuesday's 5-4 decision upheld the Federal Communications Commission's right to charge Fox Television for filthy language -- even a one-word utterance -- that occurs in live broadcasts. But the high court refused to pass judgment on whether the FCC's "fleeting expletives" policy, which was at issue in the case, is in line with First Amendment guarantees of free speech. Alliance Defense Fund special counsel Pat Trueman explains that downside to the decision. "It's a 5-4 decision -- and one of the justices in the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas, is warning that the indecency law is unconstitutional," notes Trueman. "And so the court couldn't muster five members to say that indecency law is constitutional....[T]hat part of the case is going to be sent down to a lower court." That does not bode well for keeping obscene language off the air, says the attorney. "I think that this portends that the federal indecency law will ultimately be declared unconstitutional, and [that] you'll see the networks be flooded with indecent material," he laments. In its last major case involving broadcast indecency -- 31 years ago -- the Supreme Court ruled that the FCC could keep curse words off the airwaves between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
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