On June 21, 2012 the Supreme Court announced its decision in FCC v. Fox.  The question in this case was whether the standards for indecency that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) applied to broadcasts by Fox and ABC were unconstitutionally vague.

In an opinion delivered by Justice Kennedy, the Court ruled by a vote of 8-0 that, because the FCC failed to give Fox and ABC prior notice that fleeting expletives and momentary nudity were unacceptable, the FCC’s standards for indecency were too vague.  Justice Ginsburg filed a concurring opinion.  Justice Sotomayor took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

We have Erik Jaffe, a Washington, D.C. attorney who specializes in appellate litigation, and Patrick Brennan, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor at the Villanova University School of Law, to discuss the case in two separate podcasts.

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