PTC Pushes High Court to Take Indecency Case

The Parents Television Council has filed an amicus brief at the Supreme Court, urging it to agree to review the Federal Communications Commission's indecency enforcement policy.

The FCC and Obama Administration have asked the High Court to review lower court rulings finding that regime is arbitrary and capricious and an unconstitutional chilling of speech. PTC, whose complaints were partly responsible for the FCC's decision to pursue "fleeting" nudity and language, argues that broadcasting is still uniquely pervasive and uniquely accessible to children, which is the rationale the High Court used to uphold the FCC's indecency enforcement powers in the Pacifica case. "A public broadcaster's fiduciary duty to use the public airwaves for the public good is not a relic of a gentler time," said PTC in its filing, in this case using "public" to apply to all broadcasters you use the airwaves.