C-SPAN Seeks to Broadcast ‘Fleeting Expletives’ Oral Arguments
U.S. Supreme Court litigator Carter Phillips doesn’t plan to use a euphemism for the F-word when he argues the so-called fleeting expletives case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Now C-SPAN wants to broadcast audiotapes of the argument, raising the issue whether it will violate the Federal Communications Commission rule that is challenged in the case.
The oral arguments will address whether the FCC can fine broadcasters for celebrities’ unscripted use of expletives during live TV appearances.
But any broadcast of the Supreme Court arguments likely won’t violate any FCC rule because of a higher indecency threshold for news broadcasts, according to a story in Broadcasting and Cable that is cited in Legal Times. C-SPAN spokesman Peter Kiley told Broadcasting and Cable that C-SPAN won’t bleep out the offending words, but will likely air a warning. It is asking the Supreme Court for permission to air the broadcast soon after the argument concludes.
The Legal Times story says the C-SPAN request “sheds light again on the court’s inscrutable criteria” for decisions on whether to release oral arguments to broadcasters the same day a case is heard. Last term, for example, the court granted access to audiotapes for the lethal injection case, but not for the death penalty case involving child rape.
