FCC v. Pacifica Foundation
FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978) was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that defined the power of the Federal Communications Commission over indecent material as applied to broadcasting.
In 1973, a father complained to the FCC that his son had heard the George Carlin routine "Seven Words You Can't Say on the Radio" broadcast one afternoon over WBAI, a Pacifica Foundation FM radio station in New York City. Pacifica received a citation from the FCC, which sought to fine Pacifica for allegedly violating FCC regulations which prohibited broadcasting "obscene" material.
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FCC action, by a vote of 5 to 4, ruling that the routine was "indecent but not obscene." They stated that the FCC had authority to prohibit such broadcasts during hours when children were likely to be among the audience.
In December 2003, a U.S. congressman introduced a bill (H.R. 3687) to outlaw the broadcast of Carlin's seven "dirty words," including "compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms)." (The bill omits "tits," and includes "ass" and "asshole" which were not part of Carlin's original routine).
Facts
Holding
Legislation
External link
