ACLJ: Supreme Court Must Uphold FCC's Indecency Policy to Protect Children

(Washington, DC) The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which represents 18 members of Congress, said today the Supreme Court must overturn a lower court decision and uphold the indecency policy exercised by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) by issuing fines after expletives were uttered during a nationally-broadcast awards show.  The ACLJs amicus brief supported the FCC policy and was filed with the high court on behalf of itself and 18 members of Congress.  The Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in the case of FCC v. Fox (No. 07-582).

Without question, the FCC acted appropriately in punishing the broadcasters who aired the expletives and clearly acted in the best interest of the viewing public especially children, said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ.  Theres a tremendous responsibility afforded to those who use the public airwaves and the FCCs indecency policy is not only necessary but appropriate.  The FCCs indecency policy affords children greater protection from the harm occasioned by exposure to indecent material without infringing the constitutional rights of adults.  Were hopeful the high court will overturn the lower court decision and restore to the FCC its proper role and authority.

In its friend-of-the-court brief filed with the high court, the ACLJ contends the FCCs policy is constitutional and its actions appropriate even if only a single expletive is uttered.

The ACLJ brief contends:   Rather than forcing the FCC to ignore harm to children simply because offensive material is uttered in isolation, this policy allows the FCC to weigh all the relevant contextual factors before determining whether material is indecent. As previous FCC decisions demonstrate, consideration of the entire context of broadcast material may result in a determination that expletives are not actionably indecent even when repeated throughout a program. The FCC should be free to apply this context-based approach in a consistent manner, regardless of how many times offensive material is broadcast in a single program.

The ACLJ represents itself and 18 members of the U.S. House of Representatives:  Charles Pickering, Roscoe Bartlett, Kevin Brady, Paul Broun, Danny Davis, John Doolittle, Mary Fallin, Trent Franks, Wally Herger, Jim Jordan, Doug Lamborn, Kenny Marchant, Jeff Miller, Marilyn Musgrave, Joe Pitts, Mark Souder, Tim Walber and Dave Weldon currently serve in the 110th Congress.

The ACLJ argues that the indecency policy will allow the FCC to afford greater protection to children when they are likely to comprise a significant portion of the broadcast audience.  The ACLJ brief also contends that it is essential that this policy be respected by broadcasters and upheld by this Court.

You can read the ACLJ amicus brief here.

The Justices will issue a decision in the case before the end of the term.

Led by Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow, the American Center for Law and Justice focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C.