Supremes Won't Air Dirty Laundry

Court will delay release of tapes of arguments in indecency case

By Marie Morris, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 3, 2008 3:59 PM CST

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Supremes Won't Air Dirty Laundry — David Frederick, right, attorney for Diana Levine, second right, speaks to reporters as they leave the Supreme Court in Washington, Monday, Nov. 3, 2008. At left are Levine's sister and daughter. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Election Day is likely to inspire swearing in some places and sure to see off-color language in one unlikely locale: the Supreme Court. But the American public will have to wait until next summer to hear tomorrow's oral arguments in a landmark indecency case, FCC vs. Fox, the Justices ruled today. "We are disappointed," a spokesman for C-SPAN, which had pushed for the audiotape release, tells Broadcasting & Cable.

The case concerns a lower court's ruling that the FCC's arbitrarily enforced its rule against "fleeting expletives"—notably when Bono crossed the line during a music awards show—virtually requiring that lawyers for both sides swear a blue streak. The court today heard oral arguments in Wyeth v. Levine. The pharmaceutical company lost a $7.3 million judgment against a musician whose forearm was amputated as the result of side effects from a migraine drug.
(More US Supreme Court stories.)

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