Case name: FCC v. Pacifica Foundation

Opinion filed: 1978-10-02

Docket No.: 77-528

Citations:
• 57 L. Ed. 2d 1073
• 98 S. Ct. 3026
• 438 U.S. 726
• 1978 U.S. LEXIS 135

Case holding summaries:
• ―Patently offensive, indecent material presented over the airwaves confronts the citizen, not only in public, but also in the privacy of the home, where the individual‘s right to be left alone plainly outweighs the First Amendment rights of an intruder.‖
• ―[O]f all forms of communication, it is broadcasting that has received the most limited First Amendment protection.‖
• terms connected by a disjunctive word must be given separate meanings
• Appendix to opinion of the Court
• "[I]ndecency is largely a function of context it cannot be judged in the abstract."
• "We have long recognized that each medium of expression presents special First Amendment problems."
• stressing that "government must remain neutral in the marketplace of ideas"
• "broadcasting is uniquely accessible to children, even those too young to read"
• finding FCC could regulate indecent communications broadcast over the radio during hours when children would be listening because there is a state interest in protecting minors from exposure to vulgar and offensive language
• "It is appropriate ... to emphasize the narrowness of our holding.... The Commission's decision rested entirely on a nuisance rationale under which context is all-important."
• "The ease with which children may obtain access to broadcast material, coupled with the concerns recognized in Ginsberg, amply justify special treatment of indecent broadcasting."
• "when the Commission finds that a pig has entered the parlor, the exercise of its regulatory power does not depend on proof that the pig is obscene."
• recog- nizing the government’s interest in limiting the broadcast of offensive words dealing with sex that was accessible to children
• First Amendment does not prevent government from restricting the broadcast of "indecent" and "offensive" material
• comparing indecent speech during hours when children are listening to the proverbial pig in the parlor
• "[F]ederal courts have never been empowered to issue advisory opinions."
• upholding FCC's ruling that broadcasting of indecent program in mid-afternoon was in violation of indecency prohibition
• holding that vulgar, offensive and shocking speech must be viewed in context when determining whether such speech is protected by the First Amendment
• "We have long recognized that each medium of expression presents special First Amendment problems"
• upholding an FCC order declaring the radio broadcast of indecent speech during daytime hours to be sanctionable
• upholding FCC restrictions on broadcast in part because of broadcast's "unique[ ] accessib[ility] to children"
• "[T]he fact that society may find speech offensive is not a sufficient reason for suppressing it . . . . government must remain neutral in the marketplace of ideas."
• terms connected by a disjunctive must be given separate meanings
• government's interest in children's well-being justified regulation of otherwise protected expression
• F.C.C. has the power to regulate profanity over the radio
• holding "indecent" not the same as "obscene" in statutory disjunctive phrase "obscene, indecent, or profane."
• upholding FCC prohibition of indecent speech on the airwaves
• reprinting Carlin's "Filthy Words" monologue
• individual's right to be left alone in the privacy of his own home "plainly outweighs the First Amendment rights of an intruder"
• plurality opinion of STEVENS, J.
• concurring in part and concurring in judgment
• "[O]f all forms of communication, it is broadcasting that has received the most limited First Amendment protection."
• "[T]he broadcast media have established a uniquely pervasive presence in the lives of all Americans."
• “[C]ontext is all-important[;] [t]he concept requires consideration of a host of variables.”
• "[I]n the privacy of the home ... the individual's right to be left alone plainly outweighs the First Amendment rights of an intruder."
• Appendix to opinion of the Court
• adopting disjunctive use of the word
• “[T]he broadcast media have established a uniquely pervasive presence in the lives of all Americans.”
• upholding FCC's power to regulate "indecent" speech broadcast over radio
• "However appropriate it may be for an administrative agency to write broadly in an adjudicatory proceeding, federal courts have never been empowered to issue advisory opinions"
• holding that the government’s interest in protecting the well-being of youth by prohibiting indecent broadcasts surpassed the right to free speech
• government's interest in shielding youths from exposure to indecent language justifies a restraint on broadcasters' freedom of speech
• broadcaster explained that the "monologue had been played during a program about contemporary society's attitude toward language" and that "Carlin is not mouthing obscenities, he is merely using words to satirize as harmless and essentially silly our attitudes towards those words"
• adopting disjunctive use of the word
• ―Patently offensive, indecent material presented over the airwaves confronts the citizen, not only in public, but also in the privacy of the home, where the individual‘s right to be left alone plainly outweighs the First Amendment rights of an intruder.‖
• ―[O]f all forms of communication, it is broadcasting that has received the most limited First Amendment protection.‖
• FCC can regulate use of certain words on airwaves
• While some broadcasts of patently offensive references to excretory and sexual organs and activities may be protected, "they surely lie at the periphery of First Amendment concern"
• “…federal courts have never been empowered to issue advisory opinions.”
• terms connected by a disjunctive must be given separate meaning

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews (1)