SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST 'FLEETING EXPLETIVES

The Supreme Court ruling today originated with a case over an appearance by Cher at the 2002 Fox Billboard Music Awards show in Las Vegas.

"As any golfer who has watched his partner shank a short approach knows, it
would be absurd to accept the suggestion that the resultant four-letter word
uttered on the golf course describes sex or excrement and is therefore
indecent," Justice John Paul Stevens said in his dissent. "But that is the
absurdity the FCC has embraced in its new approach to indecency."

"Today's decision is extremely disappointing," said Andrew Jay Schwartzman,
head of the Media Access Project. "We remain hopeful that the FCC's
restrictive policies will ultimately be declared unconstitutional, but there
will be several more years of uncertainty, and impaired artistic expression,
while the lower courts address the First Amendment issues which the court
chose not to confront today."

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