| FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued January 10, 2012 Decided June 21, 2012 | |
| Full case name | Federal Communications Commission, Petitioner v. Fox Television Stations, Respondent |
| Docket no. | 10-1293 |
| Citations | 567 U.S. 239 (more) |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Judgments for defendant on remand from FCC v. Fox (Fox I), 613 F.3d 317 (2nd Cir. 2010) and 663 F.3d 122 (3rd Cir. 2011); cert. granted, 564 U.S. 1036 (2011). |
| Holding | |
| Failure to give broadcasters fair notice, prior to the broadcasts in question, that fleeting expletives and momentary nudity could be found actionably indecent rendered the Federal Communications Commission's standards unconstitutionally vague as applied to those broadcasts. Second Circuit vacated and remanded. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Kennedy, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Breyer, Alito, and Kagan |
| Concurrence | Ginsburg (in judgment) |
| Sotomayor took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. V | |
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 567 U.S. 239 (2012), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States regarding whether the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's scheme for regulating speech is unconstitutionally vague. The Supreme Court excused the broadcasters from paying fines levied for what the FCC had determined indecency, in a majority opinion delivered by Justice Anthony Kennedy.[1] The Supreme Court had previously issued an opinion in the case in 2009 addressing the nature of the fine itself, without addressing the restriction on indecent speech.
- ^ Liptak, Adam (June 2012). "Supreme Court Rejects F.C.C. Fines for Indecency". The New York Times. Retrieved June 21, 2012.