Government Appeals Indecency Ruling to Supreme Court

Last week, it was announced that the U.S. Department of Justice plans to appeal a June 2007 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluding that the F.C.C.'s reasoning for the "fleeting expletives" indecency standard were arbitrary and gave the commission the opportunity to come up with better justifications. The effect of this policy on sports broadcasts was examined in an earlier blog.

The appeal comes at the time when arguments on a challenge to the fines imposed on CBS after the infamous Super Bowl halftime show were just heard in another federal appeals court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

The high court must accept the appeal before the case could be heard. If not, the case will likely be relitigated on the merits by the Second Circuit.