The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to C-SPAN's
request to cover the Jan. 13 Fox vs. FCC profanity case oral re-argument.
That was the FCC indecency finding against swearing on Fox
awards shows that the Supreme Court remanded to the court for another look
after overturning its finding that the FCC decision was arbitrary and
capricious.
That is according to C-SPAN spokesman Peter Kiley, who said
C-SPAN cameras would be present, though he also said no decision has been made
on how or when to air it. C-SPAN covered the original argument in the case
without bleeps but with crawls warning of the language.
A source said the arguments are unlikely to air live on the
cable channel. The House is back in session Jan. 12.
Even if it doesn't air live on air, C-SPAN could decide to
stream it live on the Web site.
The case could have wide-ranging implications for speech
regulation if the Second Circuit decides to go to the underlying
constitutionality of fleeting profanity indecency enforcement more broadly now
that the High Court has weighed in on the narrower issue of whether the FCC had
provided a reasonable justification for the action it took in applying that
policy.
If the court does go there, the case will almost certainly
go back to the Supreme Court again, where it could then address the
constitutional issues.
On a related note, Kiley said C-SPAN has not heard back from
the Third Circuit on its request for expedited audio from the Feb. 23 re-argument
of the FCC vs. CBS case involving the Super Bowl half-time reveal.
The court already makes audio available within two business
days online, according to a court spokesperson.
C-SPAN aired the oral argument live the first time, which was Dec. 20, 2006. It can be viewed here.
