1/12/12: Supreme Court to Rule on FCC Indecency Policy

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The U.S. Supreme Court this week heard arguments on the government’s power to regulate profanity and nudity on broadcast television in a challenge to a long-standing Federal Communications policy that goes back to comedian George Carlin’s “Seven Filthy Words” monologue.

The major television networks contested the FCC’s indecency policy that was upheld in a 1978 dispute over Carlin’s act.

The Supreme Court heard arguments on whether the FCC’s indecency policy should be struck down as unconstitutionally vague and for violating free-speech rights under the Constitution’s First Amendment.

The Parents Television Council says the case will determine whether the indecency statute will be reduced to a polite fiction that can be safely ignored at the expense of American children and families.