FCC Asks Supreme Court To Take Janet Jackson Case

Infamous Nip Slip

The BUSH administration wants the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the FCC's fine against CBS for airing JANET JACKSON's fleeting breast exposure during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show, reports MULTICHANNEL.COM.

"The FCC and the Department of Justice have filed a petition for certiorari in the JANET JACKSON case. The petition contends that the Third Circuit failed to give sufficient deference to the findings of the FCC and asked that the petition be held in abeyance until the FOX v. FCC case is decided. The petition was filed on [WEDNESDAY] and arrived by mail [THURSDAY]," said public interest law firm MEDIA ACCESS PROJECT Pres. ANDREW JAY SCHWARTZMAN.

In JULY, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in PHILADELPHIA rejected the FCC's $550,000 fine for JACKSON's split-second so-called wardrobe malfunction.

The three-judge panel ruled that the fine was illegal because the agency had changed policy about fleeting indecent images without proper notice to broadcast licensees.

"Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second guessing. But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure," the court ruled in a 99-page opinion.

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