SCOTUS Rules Against FCC in TV Profanity, Nudity Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against the federal government's regulation on broadcast profanity and nudity, saying the agency had not given fair notice of its changed policy.

The high court's unanimous ruling, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, declared the Federal Communication Commission's standards vague as applied to the specific broadcasts in the case, but it did not decide the larger question of whether the indecency policy violated constitutional free-speech rights.