Supreme Court: No S@*#!
Today the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal rule barring the use of expletives on prime-time broadcast television even if the words are uttered in a fleeting manner.
The case, FCC v. Fox Television Stations, stems from remarks made by celebrities during the 2002 and 2003 broadcasts of the Billboard Music Awards on the Fox network.
Justice Antonin Scalia, who made an unusually long statement from the bench in announcing the case this morning, seemed to have fun recounting the facts of the case including remarks made by Cher and Nicole Richie.
“In the first broadcast, the entertainer Cher exclaimed: ‘I’ve also had critics for the last 40 years saying that I was on my way out every year. Right. So eff ‘em!’” Scalia explained in the courtroom, just in case anyone missed the original broadcast.
In the other broadcast. Scalia explained, “Ms. Richie proceeded to ask the audience: ‘Why do they even call it The Simple Life? Have you ever tried to get cow s— out of a Prada purse? It’s not so effing simple.” Too bad opinion announcements don’t count in the Funniest Justice standings, or Scalia would have padded his lead a bit more.
As for the law, the 5-4 opinion of the Court held that the FCC’s decision to cite the television statement for the fleeting expletives was neither arbitrary nor capricious. “Even when used as an expletive, the F-word’s power to insult and offend derives from its sexual meaning,” Scalia explained. “And the FCC’s decision to look at the patent offensiveness of even isolated uses of sexual and excretory words fits with the context-based approach we [have] sanctioned.”
The Court also granted a new hearing in federal court for a Tennessee death row inmate who was deprived of key evidence at his trial in Cone v. Bell. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote and announced the opinion in that case.
