Syllabus
A radio station of respondent Pacifica Foundation (hereinafter respondent) made an afternoon broadcast of a satiric monologue, entitled "Filthy Words," which listed and repeated a variety of colloquial uses of "words you couldn't say on the public airwaves." A father who heard the broadcast while driving with his young son complained to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which, after forwarding the complaint for comment to and receiving a response from respondent, issued a declaratory order granting the complaint. While not imposing formal sanctions, the FCC stated that the order would be
associated with the station's license file, and, in the event subsequent complaints are received, the Commission will then decide whether it should utilize any of the available sanctions it has been granted by Congress.
In its memorandum opinion, the FCC stated that it intended to "clarify the standards which will be utilized in considering" the growing number of complaints about indecent radio broadcasts, and it advanced several reasons for treating that type of speech differently from other forms of expression. The FCC found a power to regulate indecent broadcasting, inter alia, in 18 U.S.C. § 1464 (1976 ed.), which forbids the use of "any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means of radio communications." The FCC characterized the language of the monologue as "patently offensive," though not necessarily obscene, and expressed the opinion that it should be regulated by principles analogous to the law of nuisance, where the "law generally speaks to channeling behavior, rather than actually prohibiting it." The FCC found that certain words in the monologue depicted sexual and excretory activities in a particularly offensive manner, noted that they were broadcast in the early afternoon, "when children are undoubtedly in the audience," and concluded that the language, as broadcast, was indecent and prohibited by § 1464. A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals reversed, one judge concluding that the FCC's action was invalid either on the ground that the order constituted censorship, which was expressly forbidden by § 326 of the Communications Act of 1934, or on the ground that the FCC's opinion was the functional equivalent of [*727] a rule, and, as such, was "overbroad." Another judge, who felt that § 326's censorship provision did not apply to broadcasts forbidden by § 1464, concluded that § 1464, construed narrowly as it has to be, covers only language that is obscene or otherwise unprotected by the First Amendment. The third judge, dissenting, concluded that the FCC had correctly condemned the daytime broadcast as indecent. Respondent contends that the broadcast was not indecent within the meaning of the statute because of the absence of prurient appeal.
Held: The judgment is reversed. Pp. 734-741; 748-750; 761-762.
181 U.S.App.D.C. 132, 556 F.2d 9, reversed.
MR. JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I-III and IV-C, finding:
1. The FCC's order was an adjudication under 5 U.S.C. § 554(e) (1976 ed.), the character of which was not changed by the general statements in the memorandum opinion; nor did the FCC's action constitute rulemaking or the promulgation of regulations. Hence, the Court's review must focus on the FCC's determination that the monologue was indecent as broadcast. Pp. 734-735.
2. Section 326 does not limit the FCC's authority to sanction licensees who engage in obscene, indecent, or profane broadcasting. Though the censorship ban precludes editing proposed broadcasts in advance, the ban does not deny the FCC the power to review the content of completed broadcasts. Pp. 735-738.
3. The FCC was warranted in concluding that indecent language within the meaning of § 1464 was used in the challenged broadcast. The words "obscene, indecent, or profane" are in the disjunctive, implying that each has a separate meaning. Though prurient appeal is an element of "obscene," it is not an element of "indecent," which merely refers to conconformance with accepted standards of morality. Contrary to respondent's argument, this Court, in Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, has not foreclosed a reading of § 1464 that authorizes a proscription of "indecent" language that is not obscene, for the statute involved in that case, unlike § 1464, focused upon the prurient, and dealt primarily with printed matter in sealed envelopes mailed from one individual to another, whereas § 1464 deals with the content of public broadcasts. Pp. 738-741.
4. Of all forms of communication, broadcasting has the most limited First Amendment protection. Among the reasons for specially treating indecent broadcasting is the uniquely pervasive presence that medium of expression occupies in the lives of our people. Broadcasts extend into the privacy of the home, and it is impossible completely to avoid [*728] those that are patently offensive. Broadcasting, moreover, is uniquely accessible to children. Pp. 747-750.
MR. JUSTICE STEVENS, joined by THE CHIEF JUSTICE and MR. JUSTICE REHNQUIST, concluded in Part IV-A and IV-B:
1. The FCC's authority to proscribe this particular broadcast is not
invalidated by the possibility that its construction of the statute may deter certain
hypothetically protected broadcasts containing patently offensive references to sexual
and excretory activities. Cf. 2. The First Amendment does not prohibit all governmental regulation
that depends on the content of speech. Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47,
52. The content of respondent's broadcast, which was "vulgar," "offensive," and
"shocking," is not entitled to absolute constitutional protection in all contexts; it is
therefore necessary to evaluate the FCC's action in light of the content of that
broadcast. Pp. 744-748.
MR. JUSTICE POWELL, joined by MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN,
concluded that the FCC's holding does not violate the First Amendment, though,
being of the view that Members of this Court are not free generally to decide on the
basis of its content which speech protected by the First Amendment is most valuable
and therefore deserving of First Amendment protection, and which is less "valuable"
and hence less deserving of protection, he is unable to join Part IV-B (or IV-A) of the
opinion. Pp. 761-762.
STEVENS, J., announced the Court's judgment and delivered an
opinion
of the Court with respect to Parts I-III and IV-C, in which BURGER, C.J., and
REHNQUIST, J., joined, and in all but Parts IV-A and IV-B of which BLACKMUN
and POWELL, JJ., joined, and an opinion as to Parts IV-A and IV-B, in which
BURGER, C.J., and REHNQUIST, J., joined. POWELL, J., filed an
opinion
concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which BLACKMUN, J., joined,
post, p. 755. BRENNAN, J., filed a
dissenting opinion, in which MARSHALL,
J., joined, post, p. 762. STEWART, J., filed a
dissenting opinion, in which
BRENNAN, WHITE, and MARSHALL, JJ., joined, post, p. 777. [*729]
STEVENS, J., lead
opinion
MR. JUSTICE STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court (Parts I, II,
III, and IV-C) and an opinion in which THE CHIEF JUSTICE and MR. JUSTICE
REHNQUIST joined (Parts IV-A and IV-B).
This case requires that we decide whether the Federal Communications
Commission has any power to regulate a radio broadcast that is indecent but not
obscene.
A satiric humorist named George Carlin recorded a 12-minute monologue
entitled "Filthy Words" before a live audience in a California theater. He began by
referring to his thoughts about "the words you couldn't say on the public, ah,
airwaves, um, the ones you definitely wouldn't say, ever." He proceeded to list those
words and repeat them over and over again in a variety of colloquialisms. The
transcript of the recording, which is
appended to this opinion, indicates frequent
laughter from the audience.
At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, October 30, 1973, a New
York radio station, owned by respondent Pacifica [*730] Foundation, broadcast
the "Filthy Words" monologue. A few weeks later a man, who stated that he had
heard the broadcast while driving with his young son, wrote a letter complaining to
the Commission. He stated that, although he could perhaps understand the "record's
being sold for private use, I certainly cannot understand the broadcast of same over
the air that, supposedly, you control."
The complaint was forwarded to the station for comment. I n its response,
Pacifica explained that the monologue had been played during a program about
contemporary society's attitude toward language, and that, immediately before its
broadcast, listeners had been advised that it included "sensitive language which might
be regarded as offensive to some." Pacifica characterized George Carlin as "a
significant social satirist" who,
Pacifica stated that it was not aware of any other complaints about the broadcast.
On February 21, 1975, the Commission issued a declaratory order
granting the complaint and holding that Pacifica "could have been the subject of
administrative sanctions." 56 F.C.C.2d 94, 99. The Commission did not impose
formal sanctions, but it did state that the order would be
In its memorandum opinion, the Commission stated that it intended to
"clarify the standards which will be utilized in considering" the growing number of
complaints about indecent speech on the airwaves. Id. at 94. Advancing several
reasons for treating broadcast speech differently from other forms of
expression,[2] the Commission found a power to regulate indecent broadcasting
in two statutes: 18 U.S.C. § 1464 (1976 ed.), which forbids the use of "any obscene,
indecent, or profane language by means of radio communications,"[3] and 47
U.S.C. § 303(g), which requires the Commission to "encourage the larger and more
effective use of radio in the public interest." [4]
The Commission characterized the language used in the Carlin monologue
as "patently offensive," though not necessarily obscene, and expressed the opinion
that it should be regulated by principles analogous to those found in the law of
nuisance, where the
56 F.C.C.2d at 98.[5]
Applying these considerations to the language used in the monologue as
broadcast by respondent, the Commission concluded that certain words depicted
sexual and excretory activities in a patently offensive manner, noted that they "were
broadcast at a time when children were undoubtedly in the audience (I.e., in the early
afternoon)," and that the prerecorded language, with these offensive words "repeated
over and over," was "deliberately broadcast." Id. at 99. In summary, the Commission
stated: "We therefore hold that the language as broadcast was indecent and
prohibited by 18 U.S.C. [§] 1464.[6] Ibid.
After the order issued, the Commission was asked to clarify its opinion
by ruling that the broadcast of indecent words as part of a live newscast would not be
prohibited. The Commission issued another opinion in which it pointed out that [*733] it
59 F.C.C.2d 892 (1976). The Commission noted that its "declaratory order was
issued in a specific factual context," and declined to comment on various hypothetical
situations presented by the petition.[7] Id. at 893. It relied on its
Ibid.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
reversed, with each of the three judges on the panel writing separately. 181
U.S.App.D.C. 132, 556 F.2d 9. Judge Tamm concluded that the order represented
censorship and was expressly prohibited by § 326 of the Communications
Act.[8] Alternatively, Judge Tamm read the Commission opinion as the
functional equivalent of a rule, and concluded that it was "overbroad." 181
U.S.App.D.C. at 141, 556 F.2d at 18. Chief Judge Bazelon's concurrence rested on
the Constitution. He was persuaded that § 326's prohibition against censorship is
inapplicable to broadcasts forbidden by § 1464. However, he concluded that § 1464
[*734] must be narrowly construed to cover only language that is obscene or
otherwise unprotected by the First Amendment. 181 U.S.App.D.C. at 140-153, 556
F.2d at 24-30. Judge Leventhal, in dissent, stated that the only issue was whether the
Commission could regulate the language "as broadcast." Id. at 154, 556 F.2d at 31.
Emphasizing the interest in protecting children not only from exposure to indecent
language, but also from exposure to the idea that such language has official approval,
Id. at 160, and n. 18, 556 F.2d at 37, and n. 18, he concluded that the Commission
had correctly condemned the daytime broadcast as indecent.
Having granted the Commission's petition for certiorari, 434 U.S. 1008,
we must decide: (1) whether the scope of judicial review encompasses more than the
Commission's determination that the monologue was indecent "as broadcast"; (2)
whether the Commission's order was a form of censorship forbidden by § 326; (3)
whether the broadcast was indecent within the meaning of § 1464; and (4) whether
the order violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
I
The general statements in the Commission's memorandum opinion do not
change the character of its order. Its action was an adjudication under 5 U.S.C. §
554(e) (1976 ed.); it did not purport to engage in formal rulemaking or in the
promulgation of any regulations. The order "was issued in a specific factual context";
questions concerning possible action in other contexts were expressly reserved for the
future. The specific holding was carefully confined to the monologue "as broadcast."
"This Court . . . reviews judgments, not statements in opinions." Black
v. Cutter Laboratories, 351 U.S. 292, 297. That admonition has special force when
the statements raise constitutional questions, for it is our settled practice to avoid the
unnecessary decision of such issues. Rescue Army v. Municipal Court, 331 U.S.
549, 568 569. However appropriate [*735] it may be for an administrative
agency to write broadly in an adjudicatory proceeding, federal courts have never been
empowered to issue advisory opinions. See Herb v. Pitcairn, 324 U.S. 117, 126.
Accordingly, the focus of our review must be on the Commission's determination that
the Carlin monologue was indecent as broadcast.
II
The relevant statutory questions are whether the Commission's action is
forbidden "censorship" within the meaning of 47 U.S.C. § 326 and whether speech
that concededly is not obscene may be restricted as "indecent" under the authority of
18 U.S.C. § 1464 (1976 ed.). The questions are not unrelated, for the two statutory
provisions have a common origin. Nevertheless, we analyze them separately.
Section 29 of the Radio Act of 1927 provided:
44 Stat. 1172.
The prohibition against censorship unequivocally denies the Commission
any power to edit proposed broadcasts in advance and to excise material considered
inappropriate for the airwaves. The prohibition, however, has never been construed
to deny the Commission the power to review the content of completed broadcasts in
the performance of its regulatory duties.[9][*736]
During the period between the original enactment of the provision in 1927
and its reenactment in the Communications Act of 1934, the courts and the Federal
Radio Commission held that the section deprived the Commission of the power to
subject "broadcasting matter to scrutiny prior to its release," but they concluded that
the Commission's "undoubted right" to take note of past program content when
considering a licensee's renewal application "is not censorship."[10][*737]
Not only did the Federal Radio Commission so construe the statute prior
to 1934; its successor, the Federal Communications Commission, has consistently
interpreted the provision in the same way ever since. See Note, Regulation of
Program Content by the FCC, 77 Harv.L.Rev. 701 (1964). And, until this case, the
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has consistently agreed with this
construction.[11] Thus, for example, in his opinion in Anti-Defamation League
of B'nai B'rith v. FCC, 131 U.S.App.D.C. 146, 403 F.2d 169 (1968), cert. denied, 394 U.S. 930, Judge Wright forcefully pointed out that the Commission is not
prevented from canceling the license of a broadcaster who persists in a course of
improper programming. He explained:
131 U.S.App.D.C. at 150-151, n. 3, 403 F.2d at 173-174, n. 3. See also Office of
Communication of United Church of Christ v. FCC, 123 U.S.App.D.C. 328, 359
F.2d 994 (1966).
Entirely apart from the fact that the subsequent review of program
content is not the sort of censorship at which the statute was directed, its history
makes it perfectly clear that it was not intended to limit the Commission's power to
regulate the broadcast of obscene, indecent, or profane language. A single section of
the 1927 Act is the source of both [*738] the anti-censorship provision and the
Commission's authority to impose sanctions for the broadcast of indecent or obscene
language. Quite plainly, Congress intended to give meaning to both provisions.
Respect for that intent requires that the censorship language be read as inapplicable
to the prohibition on broadcasting obscene, indecent, or profane language.
There is nothing in the legislative history to contradict this conclusion.
The provision was discussed only in generalities when it was first enacted.[12]
In 1934, the anti-censorship provision and the prohibition against indecent broadcasts
were reenacted in the same section, just as in the 1927 Act. In 1948, when the
Criminal Code was revised to include provisions that had previously been located in
other Titles of the United States Code, the prohibition against obscene, indecent, and
profane broadcasts was removed from the Communications Act and reenacted as §
1464 of Title 18. 62 Stat. 769 and 866. That rearrangement of the Code cannot
reasonably be interpreted as having been intended to change the meaning of the
anti-censorship provision. H.R.Rep. No. 304, 80th Cong., 1st Sess., A106 (1947).
Cf. Tidewater Oil Co. v. United States, 409 U.S. 151, 162.
We conclude, therefore, that § 326 does not limit the Commission's
authority to impose sanctions on licensees who engage in obscene, indecent, or
profane broadcasting.
III
The only other statutory question presented by this case is whether the
afternoon broadcast of the "Filthy Words" [*739] monologue was indecent within
the meaning of § 1464.[13] Even that question is narrowly confined by the
arguments of the parties.
The Commission identified several words that referred to excretory or
sexual activities or organs, stated that the repetitive, deliberate use of those words in
an afternoon broadcast when children are in the audience was patently offensive, and
held that the broadcast was indecent. Pacifica takes issue with the Commission's
definition of indecency, but does not dispute the Commission's preliminary
determination that each of the components of its definition was present. Specifically,
Pacifica does not quarrel with the conclusion that this afternoon broadcast was
patently offensive. Pacifica's claim that the broadcast was not indecent within the
meaning of the statute rests entirely on the absence of prurient appeal.
The plain language of the statute does not support Pacifica's argument.
The words "obscene, indecent, or profane" are [*740] written in the disjunctive,
implying that each has a separate meaning. Prurient appeal is an element of the
obscene, but the normal definition of "indecent" merely refers to nonconformance
with accepted standards of morality.[14]
Pacifica argues, however, that this Court has construed the term
"indecent" in related statutes to mean "obscene," as that term was defined in
Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15. Pacifica relies most heavily on the
construction this Court gave to 18 U.S.C. § 1461 in Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87. See also United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film, 413 U.S. 123,
130 n. 7 (18 U.S.C. § 1462) (dicta). Hamling rejected a vagueness attack on §
1461, which forbids the mailing of "obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy or vile"
material. In holding that the statute's coverage is limited to obscenity, the Court
followed the lead of Mr. Justice Harlan in Manual Enterprises, Inc. v. Day, 370 U.S.
478. In that case, Mr. Justice Harlan recognized that § 1461 contained a variety of
words with many shades of meaning.[15] Nonetheless, he thought that the
phrase "obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy or vile," taken as a whole, was
clearly limited to the obscene, a reading well grounded in prior judicial constructions:
"[T]he statute, since its inception, has always been taken as aimed at obnoxiously
debasing portrayals of sex." 370 U.S. at 483. In Hamling, the Court agreed with Mr.
Justice Harlan that § 1461 was meant only to regulate obscenity in the mails; by
reading into it the limits set by Miller v. California, supra, the Court adopted a
construction which assured the statute's constitutionality. [*741]
The reasons supporting Hamling's construction of § 1461 do not apply
to § 1464. Although the history of the former revealed primary concern with the
prurient, the Commission has long interpreted § 1464 as encompassing more than the
obscene.[16] The former statute deals primarily with printed matter enclosed
in sealed envelopes mailed from one individual to another; the latter deals with the
content of public broadcasts. It is unrealistic to assume that Congress intended to
impose precisely the same limitations on the dissemination of patently offensive matter
by such different means.[17]
Because neither our prior decisions nor the language or history of § 1464
supports the conclusion that prurient appeal is an essential component of indecent
language, we reject Pacifica's construction of the statute. When that construction is
put to one side, there is no basis for disagreeing with the Commission's conclusion
that indecent language was used in this broadcast. [*742]
IV
Pacifica makes two constitutional attacks on the Commission's order.
First, it argues that the Commission's construction of the statutory language broadly
encompasses so much constitutionally protected speech that reversal is required even
if Pacifica's broadcast of the "Filthy Words" monologue is not itself protected by the
First Amendment. Second, Pacifica argues that, inasmuch as the recording is not
obscene, the Constitution forbids any abridgment of the right to broadcast it on the
radio.
A
The first argument fails because our review is limited to the question
whether the Commission has the authority to proscribe this particular broadcast. As
the Commission itself emphasized, its order was "issued in a specific factual context."
59 F.C.C.2d at 893. That approach is appropriate for courts as well as the
Commission when regulation of indecency is at stake, for indecency is largely a
function of context -- it cannot be adequately judged in the abstract.
The approach is also consistent with Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367. In that case, the Court rejected an argument that the Commission's
regulations defining the fairness doctrine were so vague that they would inevitably
abridge the broadcasters' freedom of speech. The Court of Appeals had invalidated
the regulations because their vagueness might lead to self-censorship of controversial
program [*743] content. Radio Television News Directors Assn. v. United States, 400 F.2d 1002, 1016 (CA7 1968). This Court reversed. After noting that the
Commission had indicated, as it has in this case, that it would not impose sanctions
without warning in cases in which the applicability of the law was unclear, the Court
stated:
395 U.S. at 396.
It is true that the Commission's order may lead some broadcasters to
censor themselves. At most, however, the Commission's definition of indecency will
deter only the broadcasting of patently offensive references to excretory and sexual
organs and activities.[18] While some of these references may be protected,
they surely lie at the periphery of First Amendment concern. Cf. Uates v. State
Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350, 380-381. Young v. American Mini Theatres,
Inc., 427 U.S. 50, 61. The danger dismissed so summarily in Red Lion, in
contrast, was that broadcasters would respond to the vagueness of the regulations by
refusing to present programs dealing with important social and political controversies.
Invalidating any rule on the basis of its hypothetical application to situations not
before the Court is "strong medicine," to be applied "sparingly and only as a last
resort." Broadrick v. Oklahoma, 413 U.S. 601, 613. We decline to
administer that medicine to preserve the vigor of patently offensive sexual and
excretory speech. [*744]
B
When the issue is narrowed to the facts of this case, the question is
whether the First Amendment denies government any power to restrict the public
broadcast of indecent language in any circumstances.[19] For if the government
has any such power, this was an appropriate occasion for its exercise.
The words of the Carlin monologue are unquestionably "speech" within
the meaning of the First Amendment. It is equally clear that the Commission's
objections to the broadcast were based in part on its content. The order must
therefore fall if, as Pacifica argues, the First Amendment prohibits all governmental
regulation that depends on the content of speech. Our past cases demonstrate,
however, that no such absolute rule is mandated by the Constitution.
The classic exposition of the proposition that both the content and the
context of speech are critical elements of First Amendment analysis is Mr. Justice
Holmes' statement for the Court in Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47,
52:
Other distinctions based on content have been approved in the years since Schenck.
The government may forbid speech calculated to provoke a fight. See
Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568. It may pay heed to the "`common
sense differences' between commercial speech and other varieties." Bates v. State Bar
of Arizona, supra at 381. It may treat libels against private citizens more
severely than libels against public officials. See Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418
U.S. 323. Obscenity may be wholly prohibited. Miller v. California, 413 U.S.
15. And, only two Terms ago, we refused to hold that a "statutory classification is
unconstitutional because it is based on the content of communication protected by the
First Amendment." Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc., supra, at 52.
The question in this case is whether a broadcast of patently offensive
words dealing with sex and excretion may be regulated because of its
content.[20] Obscene materials have been denied the protection of the First
Amendment because their content is so offensive to contemporary moral standards.
Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476. But the fact that society may find speech
offensive is not a sufficient reason for suppressing it. Indeed, if it is the speaker's
opinion that gives offense, that consequence is a reason for according it constitutional
protection. For it is a central tenet of the First Amendment that the government must
remain neutral in the marketplace of [*746] ideas.[21] If there were any
reason to believe that the Commission's characterization of the Carlin monologue as
offensive could be traced to its political content -- or even to the fact that it satirized
contemporary attitudes about four-letter words[22]-- First Amendment
protection might be required. But that is simply not this case. These words offend
for the same reasons that obscenity offends.[23] Their place in the hierarchy of
First Amendment values was aptly sketched by Mr. Justice Murphy when he said:
Chaplinski v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. at 572.
Although these words ordinarily lack literary, political, or scientific value,
they are not entirely outside the protection of the First Amendment. Some uses of
even the most offensive words are unquestionably protected. See, e.g., Hess v.
Indiana, 414 U.S. 105. Indeed, we may assume, arguendo, that this monologue
would be protected in other contexts. Nonetheless, [*747] the constitutional
protection accorded to a communication containing such patently offensive sexual and
excretory language need not be the same in every context.[24] It is a
characteristic of speech such as this that both its capacity to offend and its "social
value," to use Mr. Justice Murphy's term, vary with the circumstances. Words that
are commonplace in one setting are shocking in another. To paraphrase Mr. Justice
Harlan, one occasion's lyric is another's vulgarity. Cf. Cohen v. California, 403
U.S. 15, 25.[25]
In this case, it is undisputed that the content of Pacifica's broadcast was
"vulgar," "offensive," and "shocking." Because content of that character is not
entitled to absolute constitutional protection under all circumstances, we must
consider its [*748] context in order to determine whether the Commission's action
was constitutionally permissible.
C
We have long recognized that each medium of expression presents special
First Amendment problems. Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495,
502-503. And of all forms of communication, it is broadcasting that has received
the most limited First Amendment protection. Thus, although other speakers cannot
be licensed except under laws that carefully define and narrow official discretion, a
broadcaster may be deprived of his license and his forum if the Commission decides
that such an action would serve "the public interest, convenience, and
necessity."[26] Similarly, although the First Amendment protects newspaper
publishers from being required to print the replies of those whom they criticize,
Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Tornillo, 418 U.S. 241, it affords no such
protection to broadcasters; on the contrary, they must give free time to the victims of
their criticism. Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367.
The reasons for these distinctions are complex, but two have relevance
to the present case. First, the broadcast media have established a uniquely pervasive
presence in the lives of all Americans. Patently offensive, indecent material presented
over the airwaves confronts the citizen not only in public, but also in the privacy of
the home, where the individual's right to be left alone plainly outweighs the First
Amendment rights of an intruder. Rowan v. Post Office Dept., 397 U.S. 72.
Because the broadcast audience is constantly tuning in and out, prior warnings cannot
completely protect the listener or viewer from unexpected program content. To say
that one may avoid further offense by turning off the radio when he [*749] hears
indecent language is like saying that the remedy for an assault is to run away after the
first blow. One may hang up on an indecent phone call, but that option does not give
the caller a constitutional immunity or avoid a harm that has already taken
place.[27]
Second, broadcasting is uniquely accessible to children, even those too
young to read. Although Cohen's written message might have been incomprehensible
to a first grader, Pacifica's broadcast could have enlarged a child's vocabulary in an
instant. Other forms of offensive expression may be withheld from the young without
restricting the expression at its source. Bookstores and motion picture theaters, for
example, may be prohibited from making indecent material available to children. We
held in Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U.S. 629, that the government's interest in the
"wellbeing of its youth" and in supporting "parents' claim to authority in their own
household" justified the regulation of otherwise protected expression. [*750] Id. at 640 and 639.[28] The ease with which children may obtain access
to broadcast material, coupled with the concerns recognized in Ginsberg, amply
justify special treatment of indecent broadcasting.
It is appropriate, in conclusion, to emphasize the narrowness of our
holding. This case does not involve a two-way radio conversation between a cab
driver and a dispatcher, or a telecast of an Elizabethan comedy. We have not decided
that an occasional expletive in either setting would justify any sanction or, indeed, that
this broadcast would justify a criminal prosecution. The Commission's decision rested
entirely on a nuisance rationale under which context is all-important. The concept
requires consideration of a host of variables. The time of day was emphasized by the
Commission. The content of the program in which the language is used will also
affect the composition of the audience,[29]and differences between radio,
television, and perhaps closed-circuit transmissions, may also be relevant. As Mr.
Justice Sutherland wrote, a "nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place,
-- like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard." Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365, 383. We simply hold that, when the Commission finds that a pig
has entered the parlor, the exercise [*751] of its regulatory power does not depend
on proof that the pig is obscene.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed.
It is so ordered.
APPENDIX TO
OPINION OF THE COURT
The following is a verbatim transcript of "Filthy Words" prepared by the
Federal Communications Commission.
Aruba-du, ruba-tu, ruba-tu. I was thinking about the curse words and the
swear words, the cuss words and the words that you can't say, that you're not
supposed to say all the time, [']cause words or people into words want to hear your
words. Some guys like to record your words and sell them back to you if they can,
(laughter) listen in on the telephone, write down what words you say. A guy who
used to be in Washington knew that his phone was tapped, used to answer, Fuck
Hoover, yes, go ahead. (laughter) Okay, I was thinking one night about the words
you couldn't say on the public, ah, airwaves, um, the ones you definitely wouldn't say,
ever, [']cause I heard a lady say bitch one night on television, and it was cool like she
was talking about, you know, ah, well, the bitch is the first one to notice that in the
litter Johnie right. (murmur) Right. And, uh, bastard you can say, and hell and
damn, so I have to figure out which ones you couldn't and ever and it came down to
seven but the list is open to amendment, and in fact, has been changed, uh, by now,
ha, a lot of people pointed things out to me, and I noticed some myself. The original
seven words were shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. Those
are the ones that will curve your spine, grow hair on your hands and (laughter) maybe,
even bring us, God help us, peace without honor (laughter) um, and a bourbon.
(laughter) And now the first thing that we noticed was that word fuck was really
repeated in there because the word motherfucker is a compound word and it's another
form of the word fuck. (laughter) You want to be a purist it [*752] doesn't really,
it can't be on the list of basic words. Also, cocksucker is a compound word and
neither half of that is really dirty. The word -- the half sucker that's merely suggestive
(laughter) and the word cock is a half-way dirty word, 50% dirty -- dirty half the time,
depending on what you mean by it. (laughter) Uh, remember when you first heard
it, like in 6th grade, you used to giggle. And the cock crowed three times, heh
(laughter) the cock -- three times. It's in the Bible, cock in the Bible. (laughter) And
the first time you heard about a cock-fight, remember -- What? Huh? naw. It ain't
that, are you stupid? man. (laughter, clapping) It's chickens, you know, (laughter)
Then you have the four letter words from the old Anglo-Saxon fame. Uh, shit and
fuck. The word shit, uh, is an interesting kind of word in that the middle class has
never really accepted it and approved it. They use it like, crazy but it's not really
okay. It's still a rude, dirty, old kind of gushy word. (laughter) They don't like that,
but they say it, like, they say it like, a lady now in a middle-class home, you'll hear
most of the time she says it as an expletive, you know, it's out of her mouth before she
knows. She says, Oh shit oh shit, (laughter) oh shit. If she drops something, Oh, the
shit hurt the broccoli. Shit. Thank you. (footsteps fading away) (papers ruffling)
Read it! (from audience)
Shit! (laughter) I won the Grammy, man, for the comedy album. Isn't that
groovy? (clapping, whistling) (murmur) That's true. Thank you. Thank you man.
Yeah. (murmur) (continuous clapping) Thank you man. Thank you. Thank you very
much, man. Thank, no, (end of continuous clapping) for that and for the Grammy,
man, [']cause (laughter) that's based on people liking it man, yeh, that's ah, that's okay
man. (laughter) Let's let that go, man. I got my Grammy. I can let my hair hang
down now, shit. (laughter) Ha! So! Now the word shit is okay for the man. At
work you can say it like crazy. Mostly figuratively, Get that shit out of here, [*753] will ya? I don't want to see that shit anymore. I can't colt that shit, buddy. I've
had that shit up to here. I think you're full of shit myself (laughter) He don't know
shit from Shinola. (laughter) you know that? (laughter) Always wondered how the
Shinola people felt about that (laughter) Hi, I'm the new man from Shinola.
(laughter) Hi, how are ya? Nice to see ya. (laughter) How are ya? (laughter) Boy,
I don't know whether to shit or wind my watch. (laughter) Guess, I'll shit on my
watch. (laughter) Oh, the shit is going to hit de fan. (laughter) Built like a brick
shit-house. (laughter) Up, he's up shit's creek. (laughter) He's had it. (laughter) He
hit me, I'm sorry. (laughter) Hot shit, holy shit, tough shit, eat shit, (laughter)
shit-eating grin. Uh, whoever thought of that was ill. (murmur laughter) He had a
shit-eating grin! He had a what? (laughter) Shit on a stick. (laughter) Shit in a
handbag. I always like that. He ain't worth shit in a handbag. (laughter) Shitty. He
acted real shitty. (laughter) You know what I mean? (laughter) I got the money
back, but a real shitty attitude. Heh, he had a shit-fit. (laughter) Wow! Shit-fit.
Whew! Glad I wasn't there. (murmur, laughter) All the animals -- Bull shit, horse
shit, cow shit, rat shit, bat shit. (laughter) First time I heard bat shit, I really came
apart. A guy in Oklahoma, Boggs, said it, man. Aw! Bat shit. (laughter) Vera
reminded me of that last night, ah (murmur). Snake shit, slicker than owl shit.
(laughter) Get your shit together. Shit or get off the pot. (laughter) I got a
shit-1oad full of them. (laughter) I got a shit-pot full, all right. Shit-head, shit-heel,
shit in your heart, shit for brains, (laughter) shit-face, heh (laughter) I always try to
think how that could have originated; the first guy that said that. Somebody got
drunk and fell in some shit, you know. (laughter) Hey, I'm shit-face. (laughter)
Shitface, today. (laughter) Anyway, enough of that shit. (laughter) The big one, the
word fuck that's the one that hangs them up the most. [']Cause in a lot of cases that's
the very act that [*754] hangs them up the most. So, it's natural that the word
would, uh, have the same effect. It's a great word, fuck, nice word, easy word, cute
word, kind of. Easy word to say. One syllable, short u. (laughter) Fuck. (Murmur)
You know, it's easy. Starts with a nice soft sound -- fuh -- ends with a kh. Right?
(laughter) A little something for everyone. Fuck (laughter) Good word. Kind of a
proud word, too. Who are you? I am FUCK. (laughter) FUCK OF THE
MOUNTAIN. (laughter) Tune in again next week to FUCK OF THE MOUNTAIN.
(laughter) It's an interesting word too, [']cause it's got a double kind of a life --
personality -- dual, you know, whatever the right phrase is. It leads a double life, the
word fuck. First of all, it means, sometimes, most of the time, fuck. What does it
mean? It means to make love. Right? We're going to make love, yeh, we're going
to fuck, yeh, we're going to fuck, yeh, we're going to make love. (laughter) we're
really going to fuck, yeh, we're going to make love. Right? And it also means the
beginning of life, it's the act that begins life, so there's the word hanging around with
words like love, and life, and yet, on the other hand, it's also a word that we really use
to hurt each other with, man. It's a heavy. It's one that you have toward the end of
the argument. (laughter) Right? (laughter) You finally can't make out. Oh, fuck
you man. I said, fuck you. (laughter, murmur) Stupid fuck. (laughter) Fuck you and
everybody that looks like you, (laughter) man. It would be nice to change the movies
that we already have and substitute the word fuck for the word kill, wherever we
could, and some of those movie cliches would change a little bit. Madfuckers still on
the loose. Stop me before I fuck again. Fuck the ump, fuck the ump, fuck the ump,
fuck the ump, fuck the ump. Easy on the clutch Bill, you'll fuck that engine again.
(laughter) The other shit one was, I don't give a shit. Like it's worth something, you
know? (laughter) I don't give a shit. Hey, well, I don't take no shit, (laughter) you
know what I mean? You know why I don't take no shit? (laughter) [*755]
[']Cause I don't give a shit. (laughter) If I give a shit, I would have to pack shit.
(laughter) But I don't pack no shit cause I don't give a shit. (laughter) You wouldn't
shit me, would you? (laughter) That's a joke when you're a kid with a worm looking
out the bird's ass. You wouldn't shit me, would you? (laughter) It's an eight-year-old
joke but a good one. (laughter) The additions to the list. I found three more words
that had to be put on the list of words you could never say on television, and they
were fart, turd and twat, those three. (laughter) Fart, we talked about, it's harmless.
It's like tits, it's a cutie word, no problem. Turd, you can't say, but who wants to, you
know? (laughter) The subject never comes up on the panel, so I'm not worried about
that one. Now the word twat is an interesting word. Twat! Yeh, right in the twat.
(laughter) Twat is an interesting word because it's the only one I know of, the only
slang word applying to the, a part of the sexual anatomy that doesn't have another
meaning to it. Like, ah, snatch, box and pussy all have other meanings, man. Even
in a Walt Disney movie, you can say, We're going to snatch that pussy and put him
in a box and bring him on the airplane. (murmur, laughter) Everybody loves it. The
twat stands alone, man, as it should. And two-way words. Ah, ass is okay providing
you're riding into town on a religious feast day. (laughter) You can't say, up your
ass. (laughter) You can say, stuff it! (murmur) There are certain things you can say
-- its weird, but you can just come so close. Before I cut, I, uh, want to, ah, thank
you for listening to my words, man, fellow, uh space travelers. Thank you man for
tonight and thank you also. (clapping whistling)
MR. JUSTICE POWELL, with whom MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN
joins, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.
I join Parts I, II, III, and IV-C of MR. JUSTICE STEVENS' opinion.
The Court today reviews only the Commission's holding that Carlin's monologue was
indecent "as broadcast" [*756] at two o'clock in the afternoon, and not the broad
sweep of the Commission's opinion. Ante at 734-735. In addition to being
consistent with our settled practice of not deciding constitutional issues unnecessarily,
See ante at 734; Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U.S. 288, 345-348 (1936)
(Brandeis, J., concurring), this narrow focus also is conducive to the orderly
development of this relatively new and difficult area of law, in the first instance by the
Commission, and then by the reviewing courts. See 181 U.S.App.D.C. 132, 158-160,
556 F.2d 9, 35-37 (1977) (Leventhal, J., dissenting).
I also agree with much that is said in Part IV of MR. JUSTICE
STEVENS' opinion, and with its conclusion that the Commission's holding in this case
does not violate the First Amendment. Because I do not subscribe to all that is said
in Part IV, however, I state my views separately.
I
It is conceded that the monologue at issue here is not obscene in the
constitutional sense. See 56 F.C.C.2d 94, 98 (1975); Brief for Petitioner 18. Nor, in
this context, does its language constitute "fighting words" within the meaning of
Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942). Some of the words used
have been held protected by the First Amendment in other cases and contexts. E.g.,
Lewis v. New Orleans, 415 U.S. 130 (1974); Hess v. Indiana, 414 U.S. 105
(1973); Papish v. University of Missouri Curators, 410 U.S. 667 (1973);
Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971); See also Raton v. Tulsa, 415 U.S.
697 (1974). I do not think Carlin, consistently with the First Amendment, could be
punished for delivering the same monologue to a live audience composed of adults
who, knowing what to expect, chose to attend his performance. See Brown v.
Oklahoma, 408 U.S. 914 (1972) (POWELL, J., concurring in result). And I would
assume that an adult could not constitutionally be prohibited from purchasing a
recording or transcript of the monologue [*757] and playing or reading it in the
privacy of his own home. Cf. Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969).
But it also is true that the language employed is, to most people, vulgar
and offensive. It was chosen specifically for this quality, and it was repeated over and
over as a sort of verbal shock treatment. The Commission did not err in
characterizing the narrow category of language used here as "patently offensive" to
most people regardless of age.
The issue, however, is whether the Commission may impose civil
sanctions on a licensee radio station for broadcasting the monologue at two o'clock
in the afternoon. The Commission's primary concern was to prevent the broadcast
from reaching the ears of unsupervised children who were likely to be in the audience
at that hour. In essence, the Commission sought to "channel" the monologue to hours
when the fewest unsupervised children would be exposed to it. See 56 F.C.C.2d at
98. In my view, this consideration provides strong support for the Commission's
holding.[1]
The Court has recognized society's right to "adopt more stringent controls
on communicative materials available to youths than on those available to adults."
Erznoznik v. Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205, 212 (1975); See also, e.g.,
Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 36 n. 17 (1973); Ginsberg v. New
York, 390 U.S. 629, 636-641 (1968); Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184,
195 (1964) (opinion of BRENNAN, J.). This recognition stems in large part
from the fact that "a child . . . is not possessed of that full capacity for individual
choice which is the presupposition of First Amendment guarantees." Ginsberg v. New
York, supra at 649-650 (STEWART, J., concurring in result). Thus, children
may not be able to protect themselves from speech which, although shocking to most
adults, generally may be avoided by the unwilling [*758] through the exercise of
choice. At the same time, such speech may have a deeper and more lasting negative
effect on a child than on an adult. For these reasons, society may prevent the general
dissemination of such speech to children, leaving to parents the decision as to what
speech of this kind their children shall hear and repeat:
Prince v. Massachusetts, [321 U.S. 158, 166 (1944)]. The legislature could
properly conclude that parents and others, teachers for example, who have this primary
responsibility for children's wellbeing are entitled to the support of laws designed to aid
discharge of that responsibility. Id. at 639. The Commission properly held that the speech from which society
may attempt to shield its children is not limited to that which appeals to the youthful
prurient interest. The language involved in this case is as potentially degrading and
harmful to children as representations of many erotic acts.
In most instances, the dissemination of this kind of speech to children may
be limited without also limiting willing adults' access to it. Sellers of printed and
recorded matter and exhibitors of motion pictures and live performances may be
required to shut their doors to children, but such a requirement has no effect on
adults' access. See id. at 634-635. The difficulty is that such a physical
separation of the audience cannot be accomplished in the broadcast media. During
most of the broadcast hours, both adults and unsupervised children are likely to be in
the broadcast audience, and the broadcaster cannot reach willing adults without also
reaching [*759] children. This, as the Court emphasizes, is one of the distinctions
between the broadcast and other media to which we often have adverted as justifying
a different treatment of the broadcast media for First Amendment purposes. See
Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350, 384 (1977); Columbia
Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee, 412 U.S. 94, 101
(1973); Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 386-387 (1969);
Capital Broadcasting Co. v. Mitchell, 333 F.Supp. 582 (DC 1971), Aff'd sub nom.
Capital Broadcasting Co. v. Acting Attorney General, 405 U.S. 1000 (1972); See
generally Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson, 343 U.S. 495, 502-503 (1952).
In my view, the Commission was entitled to give substantial weight to this difference
in reaching its decision in this case.
A second difference, not without relevance, is that broadcasting -- unlike
most other forms of communication -- comes directly into the home, the one place
where people ordinarily have the right not to be assaulted by uninvited and offensive
sights and sounds. Erznoznik v. Jacksonville, supra at 209; Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. at 21; Rowan v. Post Office Dept., 397 U.S. 728 (1970).
Although the First Amendment may require unwilling adults to absorb the first blow
of offensive but protected speech when they are in public before they turn away, See,
e.g., Erznoznik, supra at 210-211, But cf. Rosenfeld v. New Jersey, 408 U.S.
901, 903-909 (1972) (POWELL, J., dissenting), a different order of values obtains
in the home.
Rowan v. Post Office Dept., supra at 738. The Commission also was entitled
to give this factor appropriate weight in the circumstances of the instant case. This
is not to say, however, that the Commission has an unrestricted license to decide what
speech, protected in other media, may be banned from the airwaves in order to protect
[*760] unwilling adults from momentary exposure to it in their homes.[2]
Making the sensitive judgments required in these cases is not easy. But this
responsibility has been reposed initially in the Commission, and its judgment is entitled
to respect.
It is argued that, despite society's right to protect its children from this
kind of speech, and despite everyone's interest in not being assaulted by offensive
speech in the home, the Commission's holding in this case is impermissible because
it prevents willing adults from listening to Carlin's monologue over the radio in the
early afternoon hours. It is said that this ruling will have the effect of "reduc[ing] the
adult population . . . to [hearing] only what is fit for children." Butler v. Michigan, 352 U.S. 380, 383 (1957). This argument is not without force. The Commission
certainly should consider it as it develops standards in this area. But it is not
sufficiently strong to leave the Commission powerless to act in circumstances such as
those in this case.
The Commission's holding does not prevent willing adults from
purchasing Carlin's record, from attending his performances, or, indeed, from reading
the transcript reprinted as an
appendix to the Court's opinion. On its face, it does not
prevent respondent Pacifica Foundation from broadcasting the monologue during late
evening hours, when fewer children are likely to be in the audience, nor from
broadcasting discussions of the contemporary use of language at any time during the
day. The Commission's holding, and certainly the Court's holding today, does not
speak to cases involving the isolated [*761] use of a potentially offensive word in
the course of a radio broadcast, as distinguished from the verbal shock treatment
administered by respondent here. In short, I agree that, on the facts of this case, the
Commission's order did not violate respondent's First Amendment rights.
II
As the foregoing demonstrates, my views are generally in accord with
what is said in Part IV-C of MR. JUSTICE STEVENS' opinion. See ante at
748-750. I therefore join that portion of his opinion. I do not join Part IV-B,
however, because I do not subscribe to the theory that the Justices of this Court are
free generally to decide on the basis of its content which speech protected by the First
Amendment is most "valuable," and hence deserving of the most protection, and
which is less "valuable" and hence deserving of less protection. Compare ante at
744-748; Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc., 427 U.S. 50, 63-73
(1976) (opinion of STEVENS, J.), with id. at 73 n. 1 (POWELL, J.,
concurring).[3] In my view, the result in this case does not turn on whether
Carlin's monologue, viewed as a whole, or the words that constitute it, have more or
less "value" than a candidate's campaign speech. This is a judgment for each person
to make, not one for the judges to impose upon him.[4][*762]
The result turns instead on the unique characteristics of the broadcast
media, combined with society's right to protect its children from speech generally
agreed to be inappropriate for their years, and with the interest of unwilling adults in
not being assaulted by such offensive speech in their homes. Moreover, I doubt
whether today's decision will prevent any adult who wishes to receive Carlin's
message in Carlin's own words from doing so, and from making for himself a value
judgment as to the merit of the message and words. Cf. id. at 77-79 (POWELL,
J., concurring). These are the grounds upon which I join the judgment of the Court
as to Part IV.
ME. JUSTICE BRENNAN, with whom MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL
joins, dissenting.
I agree with MR. JUSTICE STEWART that, under Hamling v.
United States, 418 U.S. 87 (1974), and United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film, 413 U.S. 123 (1973), the word "indecent" in 18 U.S.C. § 1464 (1976 ed.) must be
construed to prohibit only obscene speech. I would, therefore, normally refrain from
expressing my views on any constitutional issues implicated in this case. However,
I find the Court's misapplication of fundamental First Amendment principles so patent,
and its attempt to impose its notions of propriety on the whole of the American
people so misguided, that I am unable to remain silent.
I
For the second time in two years, See Young v. American Mini Theatres,
Inc., 427 U.S. 50 (1976), the Court refuses to embrace the notion, completely
antithetical to basic First Amendment values, that the degree of protection the First
[*763] Amendment affords protected speech varies with the social value ascribed
to that speech by five Members of this Court. See opinion of MR. JUSTICE
POWELL, ante at 761-762. Moreover as do all parties, all Members of the
Court agree that the Carlin monologue aired by Station WBAI does not fall within
one of the categories of speech, such as "fighting words," Chaplinsky v. New
Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942), or obscenity, Roth v. United States, 354 U.S.
476 (1957), that is totally without First Amendment protection. This conclusion, of
course, is compelled by our cases expressly holding that communications containing
some of the words found condemnable here are fully protected by the First
Amendment in other contexts. See Eaton v. Tulsa, 415 U.S. 697 (1974);
Papish v. University of Missouri Curators, 410 U.S. 667 (1973); Brown v.
Oklahoma, 408 U.S. 914 (1972); Lewis v. New Orleans, 408 U.S. 913 (1972);
Rosenfeld v. New Jersey, 408 U.S. 901 (1972); Cohen v. California, 403 U.S.
15 (1971). Yet despite t.he Court's refusal to create a sliding scale of First
Amendment protection calibrated to this Court's perception of the worth of a
communication's content, and despite our unanimous agreement that the Carlin
monologue is protected speech, a majority of the Court[1]nevertheless finds
that, on the facts of this case, the FCC is not constitutionally barred from imposing
sanctions on Pacifica for its airing of the Carlin monologue. This majority apparently
believes that the FCC's disapproval of Pacifica's afternoon broadcast of Carlin's "Dirty
Words" recording is a permissible time, place, and manner regulation. Kovacs
v. Cooper, 336 U.S. 77 (1949). Both the opinion of my Brother STEVENS and the
opinion of my Brother POWELL rely principally on two factors in reaching this
conclusion: (1) the capacity of a radio broadcast to intrude into the unwilling listener's
home, [*764] and (2) the presence of children in the listening audience.
Dispassionate analysis, removed from individual notions as to what is proper and what
is not, starkly reveals that these justifications, whether individually or together, simply
do not support even the professedly moderate degree of governmental
homogenization of radio communications -- if, indeed, such homogenization can ever
be moderate given the preeminent status of the right of free speech in our
constitutional scheme that the Court today permits.
A
Without question, the privacy interests of an individual in his home are
substantial, and deserving of significant protection. In finding these interests sufficient
to justify the content regulation of protected speech, however, the Court commits two
errors. First, it misconceives the nature of the privacy interests involved where an
individual voluntarily chooses to admit radio communications into his home. Second,
it ignores the constitutionally protected interests of both those who wish to transmit
and those who desire to receive broadcasts that many -- including the FCC and this
Court -- might find offensive.
Cohen v. California, supra, at 21. I am in wholehearted agreement with my
Brethren that an individual's right "to be let alone" when engaged in private activity
within the confines of his own home is encompassed within the "substantial privacy
interests" to which Mr. Justice Harlan referred in Cohen, and is entitled to the greatest
solicitude. Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969). However, I believe that
an individual's actions in switching on [*765] and listening to communications
transmitted over the public airways and directed to the public at large do not implicate
fundamental privacy interests, even when engaged in within the home. Instead,
because the radio is undeniably a public medium, these actions are more properly
viewed as a decision to take part, if only as a listener, in an ongoing public discourse.
See Note, Filthy Words, the FCC, and the First Amendment: Regulating Broadcast
Obscenity, 61 Va.L.Rev. 579, 618 (1975). Although an individual's decision to allow
public radio communications into his home undoubtedly does not abrogate all of his
privacy interests, the residual privacy interests he retains vis-a-vis the communication
he voluntarily admits into his home are surely no greater than those of the people
present in the corridor of the Los Angeles courthouse in Cohen who bore witness to
the words "Fuck the Draft" emblazoned across Cohen's jacket. Their privacy interests
were held insufficient to justify punishing Cohen for his offensive communication.
Even if an individual who voluntarily opens his home to radio
communications retains privacy interests of sufficient moment to justify a ban on
protected speech if those interests are "invaded in an essentially intolerable manner,"
Cohen v. California, supra at 21, the very fact that those interests are threatened
only by a radio broadcast precludes any intolerable invasion of privacy; for unlike
other intrusive modes of communication, such as sound trucks, "[t]he radio can be
turned off," Lehman v. Shaker Heights, 418 U.S. 298, 302 (1974) -- and
with a minimum of effort. As Chief Judge Bazelon aptly observed below,
181 U.S.App.D.C. 132, 149, 556 F.2d 9, 26 (1977). Whatever the minimal
discomfort suffered by a [*766] listener who inadvertently tunes into a program he
finds offensive during the brief interval before he can simply extend his arm and switch
stations or flick the "off" button, it is surely worth the candle to preserve the
broadcaster's right to send, and the right of those interested to receive, a message
entitled to full First Amendment protection. To reach a contrary balance, as does the
Court, is clearly to follow MR. JUSTICE STEVENS' reliance on animal metaphors,
ante at 750-751, "to burn the house to roast the pig." Butler v. Michigan, 352
U.S. 380, 383 (1957).
The Court's balance, of necessity, fails to accord proper weight to the
interests of listeners who wish to hear broadcasts the FCC deems offensive. It permits
majoritarian tastes completely to preclude a protected message from entering the
homes of a receptive, unoffended minority. No decision of this Court supports such
a result. Where the individuals constituting the offended majority may freely choose
to reject the material being offered, we have never found their privacy interests of
such moment to warrant the suppression of speech on privacy grounds. Cf. Lehman
v. Shaker Heights, supra. Rowan v. Post Office Dept., 397 U.S. 728 (1970),
relied on by the FCC and by the opinions of my Brothers POWELL and STEVENS,
confirms, rather than belies, this conclusion. In Rowan, the Court upheld a statute,
39 U.S.C. § 4009 (1964 ed., Supp. IV), permitting householders to require that mail
advertisers stop sending them lewd or offensive materials and remove their names
from mailing lists. Unlike the situation here, householders who wished to receive the
sender's communications were not prevented from doing so. Equally important, the
determination of offensiveness vel non under the statute involved in Rowan was
completely within the hands of the individual householder; no governmental
evaluation of the worth of the mail's content stood between the mailer and the
householder. In contrast, the visage of the censor is all too discernible here. [*767]
B
Most parents will undoubtedly find understandable, as well as
commendable, the Court's sympathy with the FCC's desire to prevent offensive
broadcasts from reaching the ears of unsupervised children. Unfortunately, the facial
appeal of this justification for radio censorship masks its constitutional insufficiency.
Although the government unquestionably has a special interest in the wellbeing of
children, and consequently "can adopt more stringent controls on communicative
materials available to youths than on those available to adults," Erznoznik v.
Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205, 212 (1975); See Paris Adult Theatre I v.
Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 106-107 (1973) (BRENNAN, J., dissenting), the Court has
accounted for this societal interest by adopting a "variable obscenity" standard that
permits the prurient appeal of material available to children to be assessed in terms of
the sexual interests of minors. Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U.S. 629 (1968). It
is true that the obscenity standard the Ginsberg Court adopted for such materials was
based on the then-applicable obscenity standard of Roth v. United States, 354
U.S. 476 (1957), and Memoirs v. Massachusetts, 383 U.S. 413 (1966), and that
"[w]e have not had occasion to decide what effect Miller [v. California, 413
U.S. 15 (1973)] will have on the Ginsberg formulation." Erznoznik v. Jacksonville,
supra at 213 n. 10. Nevertheless, we have made it abundantly clear that, "under
any test of obscenity as to minors . . . , to be obscene, `such expression must be, in
some significant way, erotic.'" 422 U.S. at 213 n. 10, quoting Cohen v.
California, 403 U.S. at 20.
Because the Carlin monologue is obviously not an erotic appeal to the
prurient interests of children, the Court, for the first time, allows the government to
prevent minors from gaining access to materials that are not obscene, and are
therefore protected, as to them.[2] It thus ignores our recent admonition [*768] that
422 U.S. at 213-214.[3] The Court's refusal to follow its own
pronouncements is especially lamentable, since it has the anomalous subsidiary effect,
at least in the radio context at issue here, of making completely unavailable to adults
material which may not constitutionally be kept even from children. This result
violates in spades the principle of Butler v. Michigan, supra. Butler involved a
challenge to a Michigan statute that forbade the publication, sale, or distribution of
printed material "tending to incite minors to violent or depraved or immoral acts,
manifestly tending to the corruption of the morals of youth." 352 U.S. at 381.
Although Roth v. United States, supra, had not yet been decided, it is at least arguable
that the material the statute in Butler was designed to suppress could have been
constitutionally denied to children. Nevertheless, this Court [*769] found the
statute unconstitutional. Speaking for the Court, Mr. Justice Frankfurter reasoned:
352 U.S. at 383-384. Where, as here, the government may not prevent the exposure
of minors to the suppressed material, the principle of Butler applies a fortiori. The
opinion of my Brother POWELL acknowledges that there lurks in today's decision
a potential for "`reduc[ing] the adult population . . . to [hearing] only what is fit for
children,'" ante at 760, but expresses faith that the FCC will vigilantly prevent
this potential from ever becoming a reality. I am far less certain than my Brother
POWELL that such faith in the Commission is warranted, See Illinois Citizens
Committee for Broadcasting v. FCC, 169 U.S.App.D.C. 166, 187-190, 515 F.2d 397,
418-421 (1975) (statement of Bazelon, C.J., as to why he voted to grant rehearing en
banc); and even if I shared it, I could not so easily shirk the responsibility assumed by
each Member of this Court jealously to guard against encroachments on First
Amendment freedoms.
In concluding that the presence of children in the listening audience
provides an adequate basis for the FCC to impose sanctions for Pacifica's broadcast
of the Carlin monologue, the opinions of my Brother POWELL, ante at
757-758, and my Brother STEVENS, ante at 749-750, both stress the
time-honored right of a parent to raise his child as he sees fit -- a right this Court has
consistently been vigilant to protect. See Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205
(1972); Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925). Yet this principle
supports a [*770] result directly contrary to that reached by the Court. Yoder and
Pierce hold that parents, not the government, have the right to make certain decisions
regarding the upbringing of their children. As surprising as it may be to individual
Members of this Court, some parents may actually find Mr. Carlin's unabashed
attitude towards the seven "dirty words" healthy, and deem it desirable to expose their
children to the manner in which Mr. Carlin defuses the taboo surrounding the words.
Such parents may constitute a minority of the American public, but the absence of
great numbers willing to exercise the right to raise their children in this fashion does
not alter the right's nature or its existence. Only the Court's regrettable decision does
that.[4]
C
As demonstrated above, neither of the factors relied on by both the
opinion of my Brother POWELL and the opinion of my Brother STEVENS -- the
intrusive nature of radio and the presence of children in the listening audience -- can,
when taken on its own terms, support the FCC's disapproval of the Carlin monologue.
These two asserted justifications are further plagued by a common failing: the lack
of principled limits on their use as a basis for FCC censorship. No such limits come
readily to mind, and neither of the opinions constituting the Court serves to clarify the
extent to which the FCC may assert the privacy and "children in the audience"
rationales as justification for expunging from the airways protected communications
the Commission finds offensive. Taken to their logical extreme, these rationales
would support the cleansing of public [*771] radio of any "four-letter words"
whatsoever, regardless of their context. The rationales could justify the banning from
radio of a myriad of literary works, novels, poems, and plays by the likes of
Shakespeare, Joyce, Hemingway, Ben Jonson, Henry Fielding, Robert Burns, and
Chaucer; they could support the suppression of a good deal of political speech, such
as the Nixon tapes; and they could even provide the basis for imposing sanctions for
the broadcast of certain portions of the Bible.[5]
In order to dispel the specter of the possibility of so unpalatable a degree
of censorship, and to defuse Pacifica's overbreadth challenge, the FCC insists that it
desires only the authority to reprimand a broadcaster on facts analogous to those
present in this case, which it describes as involving
Brief for Petitioner 45. The opinions of both my Brother POWELL and my Brother
STEVENS take the FCC at its word, and consequently do no more than permit the
Commission to censor the afternoon broadcast of the "sort of verbal shock
treatment," opinion of MR. JUSTICE POWELL, ante at 757, involved here. To
insure that the FCC's regulation of protected speech does not exceed these bounds,
my Brother POWELL is content to rely upon the judgment of the [*772]
Commission while my Brother STEVENS deems it prudent to rely on this Court's
ability accurately to assess the worth of various kinds of speech.[6] For my own
part, even accepting that this case is limited to its facts,[7]I would place the
responsibility and the right to weed worthless and offensive communications from the
public airways where it belongs and where, until today, it resided: in a public free to
choose those communications worthy of its attention from a marketplace unsullied by
the censor's hand.
II
The absence of any hesitancy in the opinions of my Brothers POWELL
and STEVENS to approve the FCC's censorship of the Carlin monologue on the basis
of two demonstrably inadequate grounds is a function of their perception that the
decision will result in little, if any, curtailment of communicative exchanges protected
by the First Amendment. Although the extent to [*773] which the Court stands
ready to countenance FCC censorship of protected speech is unclear from today's
decision, I find the reasoning by which my Brethren conclude that the FCC censorship
they approve will not significantly infringe on First Amendment values both
disingenuous as to reality and wrong as a matter of law.
My Brother STEVENS, in reaching a result apologetically described as
narrow, ante at 750, takes comfort in his observation that "[a] requirement that
indecent language be avoided will have its primary effect on the form, rather than the
content, of serious communication," ante at 743 n. 18, and finds solace in his
conviction that "[t]here are few, if any, thoughts that cannot be expressed by the use
of less offensive language." Ibid. The idea that the content of a message and its
potential impact on any who might receive it can be divorced from the words that are
the vehicle for its expression is transparently fallacious. A given word may have a
unique capacity to capsule an idea, evoke an emotion, or conjure up an image.
Indeed, for those of us who place an appropriately high value on our cherished First
Amendment rights, the word "censor" is such a word. Mr. Justice Harlan, speaking
for the Court, recognized the truism that a speaker's choice of words cannot surgically
be separated from the ideas he desires to express when he warned that
Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. at 26. Moreover, even if an alternative phrasing
may communicate a speaker's abstract ideas as effectively as those words he is
forbidden to use, it is doubtful that the sterilized message will convey the emotion that
is an essential part of so many communications. This, too, was apparent to Mr.
Justice Harlan and the Court in Cohen.
Id. at 25-26.
My Brother STEVENS also finds relevant to his First Amendment
analysis the fact that "[a]dults who feel the need may purchase tapes and records or
go to theaters and nightclubs to hear [the tabooed] words." Ante at 750 n. 28.
My Brother POWELL agrees:
Ante at 760. The opinions of my Brethren display both a sad insensitivity to the
fact that these alternatives involve the expenditure of money, time, and effort that
many of those wishing to hear Mr. Carlin's message may not be able to afford, and a
naive innocence of the reality that, in many cases, the medium may well be the
message.
The Court apparently believes that the FCC's actions here can be
analogized to the zoning ordinances upheld in Young v. American Mini Theatres,
Inc., 427 U.S. 50 (1976). For two reasons, it is wrong. First, the zoning ordinances
found to pass constitutional muster in Young had valid goals other than the channeling
of protected speech. Id. at 71 n. 34 (opinion of STEVENS, J.); Id. at 80
(POWELL, J., concurring). No such goals are present here. Second, and crucial to
the opinions of my Brothers POWELL and STEVENS in Young -- opinions, which,
as they do in this case, supply the bare five-person majority of the Court -- the
ordinances did not restrict the access of distributors or exhibitors to the market or
impair [*775] the viewing public's access to the regulated material. Id. at 62,
71 n. 35 (opinion of STEVENS, J.); Id. at 77 (POWELL, J., concurring).
Again, this is not the situation here. Both those desiring to receive Carlin's message
over the radio and those wishing to send it to them are prevented from doing so by
the Commission's actions. Although, as my Brethren point out, Carlin's message may
be disseminated or received by other means, this is of little consolation to those
broadcasters and listeners who, for a host of reasons, not least among them financial,
do not have access to, or cannot take advantage of, these other means.
Moreover, it is doubtful that even those frustrated listeners in a position
to follow my Brother POWELL's gratuitous advice and attend one of Carlin's
performances or purchase one of his records would receive precisely the same
message Pacifica's radio station sent its audience. The airways are capable not only
of carrying a message, but also of transforming it. A satirist's monologue may be
most potent when delivered to a live audience; yet the choice whether this will in fact
be the manner in which the message is delivered and received is one the First
Amendment prohibits the government from making.
III
It is quite evident that I find the Court's attempt to unstitch the warp and
woof of First Amendment law in an effort to reshape its fabric to cover the patently
wrong result the Court reaches in this case dangerous, as well as lamentable. Yet
there runs throughout the opinions of my Brothers POWELL and STEVENS another
vein I find equally disturbing: a depressing inability to appreciate that, in our land of
cultural pluralism, there are many who think, act, and talk differently from the
Members of this Court, and who do not share their fragile sensibilities. It is only an
acute ethnocentric myopia that enables the Court to approve the censorship of
communications solely because of the words they contain. [*776]
Towne v. Eisner, 245 U.S. 418, 425 (1918) (Holmes, J.). The words that the Court
and the Commission find so unpalatable may be the stuff of everyday conversations
in some, if not many, of the innumerable subcultures that compose this Nation.
Academic research indicates that this is indeed the case. See B. Jackson, "Get Your
Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me" (1974); J. Dillard, Black English (1972); W.
Labov, Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular (1972).
As one researcher concluded,
C. Bins, "Toward an Ethnography of Contemporary African American Oral Poetry,"
Language and Linguistics Working Papers No. 5, p. 82 (Georgetown Univ. Press
1972). Cf. Keefe v. Geanakos, 418 F.2d 359, 361 (CA1 1969) (finding the use of the
word "motherfucker" commonplace among young radicals and protesters).
Today's decision will thus have its greatest impact on broadcasters
desiring to reach, and listening audiences composed of, persons who do not share the
Court's view as to which words or expressions are acceptable and who, for a variety
of reasons, including a conscious desire to flout majoritarian conventions, express
themselves using words that may be regarded as offensive by those from different
socio-economic backgrounds.[8] [*777] In this context, the Court's decision
may be seen for what, in the broader perspective, it really is: another of the dominant
culture's inevitable efforts to force those groups who do not share its mores to
conform to its way of thinking, acting, and speaking. See Moore v. East
Cleveland, 431 U.S. 494, 506-511 (1977) (BRENNAN, J., concurring).
Pacifica, in response to an FCC inquiry about its broadcast of Carlin's
satire on "`the words you couldn't say on the public . . . airways,'" explained that
"Carlin is not mouthing obscenities, he is merely using words to satirize as harmless
and essentially silly our attitudes towards those words." 56 F.C.C.2d at 95, 96. In
confirming Carlin's prescience as a social commentator by the result it reaches today,
the Court evinces an attitude toward the "seven dirty words" that many others besides
Mr. Carlin and Pacifica might describe as "silly." Whether today's decision will
similarly prove "harmless" remains to be seen. One can only hope that it will.
MR. JUSTICE STEWART, with whom MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN,
MR. JUSTICE WHITE, and MR. JUSTICE MARSHALL join, dissenting.
The Court today recognizes the wise admonition that we should "avoid
the unnecessary decision of [constitutional] issues." Ante at 734. But it
disregards one important application of this salutary principle -- the need to construe
an Act of Congress so as to avoid, if possible, passing upon its
constitutionality.[1] It is apparent that the constitutional questions raised by the
order of the Commission in this case are substantial.[2] Before deciding them,
we should be certain that it is necessary to do so. [*778]
The statute pursuant to which the Commission acted, 18 U.S.C. § 1464
(1976 ed.),[3]makes it a federal offense to utter "any obscene, indecent, or
profane language by means of radio communication." The Commission held, and the
Court today agrees, that "indecent" is a broader concept than "obscene" as the latter
term was defined in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, because language can be
"indecent" although it has social, political, or artistic value and lacks prurient appeal.
56 F.C.C.2d 94, 97-98.[4] But this construction of § 1464, while perhaps
plausible, is by no means compelled. To the contrary, I think that "indecent" should
properly be read as meaning no more than "obscene." Since the Carlin monologue
concededly was not "obscene," I believe that the Commission lacked statutory
authority to ban it. Under this construction of the statute, it is unnecessary to address
the difficult and important issue of the Commission's constitutional power to prohibit
speech that [*779] would be constitutionally protected outside the context of
electronic broadcasting.
This Court has recently decided the meaning of the term "indecent" in a
closely related statutory context. In Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, the
petitioner was convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. § 1461, which prohibits the mailing
of "[e]very obscene, lewd, lascivious, indecent, filthy or vile article." The Court
418 U.S. at 114, quoting United States v. 12 200-ft. Reels of Film, 413
U.S. 123, 130 n. 7. Thus, the clear holding of Hamling is that "indecent," as
used in § 1461, has the same meaning as "obscene" as that term was defined in the
Miller case. See also Marks v. United States, 430 U.S. 188, 190 (18
U.S.C. § 1465).
Nothing requires the conclusion that the word "indecent" has any meaning
in § 1464 other than that ascribed to the same word in § 1461.[5] Indeed,
although the legislative history is largely silent,[6]such indications as there are
support the view that § 1461 and 1464 should be construed similarly. The view that
"indecent" means no more than "obscene" in § 1461 and similar statutes long
antedated Hamling. See United States v. Bennett, 24 F.Cas. 1093 (No. 14,571) (CC
SDNY 1879); Dunlop v. United States, 165 U.S. 486, 500-501; [*780] Manual
Enterprises v. Day, 370 U.S. 478, 482-484, 487 (opinion of Harlan, J.).[7] And
although §§ 1461 and 1464 were originally enacted separately, they were codified
together in the Criminal Code of 1848 as part of a chapter entitled "Obscenity."
There is nothing in the legislative history to suggest that Congress intended that the
same word in two closely related sections should have different meanings. See H.R.Rep. No. 304, 80th Cong., 1st Sess., A104-A106 (1947).
I would hold, therefore, that Congress intended, by using the word
"indecent" in § 1464, to prohibit nothing more than obscene speech.[8] Under
that reading of the statute, the Commission's order in this case was not authorized,
and on that basis, I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals.
Footnotes
STEVENS, J., lead opinion (Footnotes)
1. 56 F.C.C.2d at 99. The Commission noted:
Id. at 96 n. 3.
2.
Id. at 97.
3. Title 18 U.S.C. § 1464 (1976 ed.) provides:
4. Section 303(g) of the Communications Act of 1934, 48 Stat. 1082, as
amended, as set forth in 47 U.S.C. § 303(g), in relevant part, provides:
* * * *
5. Thus, the Commission suggested, if an offensive broadcast had literary,
artistic, political, or scientific value, and were preceded by warnings, it might not be
indecent in the late evening, but would be so during the day, when children are in the
audience. 56 F.C.C.2d at 98.
6. Chairman Wiley concurred in the result without joining the opinion.
Commissioners Reid and Quello filed separate statements expressing the opinion that
the language was inappropriate for broadcast at any time. Id. at 102-103.
Commissioner Robinson, joined by Commissioner Hooks, filed a concurring statement
expressing the opinion:
Id. at 107-108, and n. 9.
7. The Commission did, however, comment:
59 F.C.C.2d at 893 n. 1.
8.
48 Stat. 1091, 47 U.S.C. § 326.
9. Zechariah Chafee, defending the Commission's authority to take into
account program service in granting licenses, interpreted the restriction on
"censorship" narrowly:
2 Z. Chafee, Government and Mass Communications 641 (1947).
10. In KFKB Broadcasting Assn. v. Federal Radio Comm'n, 60 App.D.C.
79, 47 F.2d 670 (1931), a doctor who controlled a radio station as well as a
pharmaceutical association made frequent broadcasts in which he answered the
medical questions of listeners. He often prescribed mixtures prepared by his
pharmaceutical association. The Commission determined that renewal of the station's
license would not be in the public interest, convenience, or necessity because many
of the broadcasts served the doctor's private interests. In response to the claim that
this was censorship in violation of § 29 of the 1927 Act, the Court held:
60 App.D.C. at 81, 47 F.2d at 672. In Trinity Methodist Church, South v. Federal
Radio Comm'n, 61 App.D.C. 311, 62 F.2d 850 (1932), cert. denied, 288 U.S. 599,
the station was controlled by a minister whose broadcasts contained frequent
references to "pimps" and "prostitutes" as well as bitter attacks on the Roman
Catholic Church. The Commission refused to renew the license, citing the nature of
the broadcasts. The Court of Appeals affirmed, concluding that First Amendment
concerns did not prevent the Commission from regulating broadcasts that
61 App.D.C. at 314, 62 F.2d at 853. The court recognized that the licensee had a
right to broadcast this material free of prior restraint, but
Id. at 312, 62 F.2d at 851.
11. See, e.g., Bay State Beacon, Inc. v. FCC, 84 U.S.App.D.C. 216, 171
F.2d 826 (1948); Idaho Microwave, Inc. v. FCC, 122 U.S.App.D.C. 253, 352 F.2d
729 (1965); National Assn. of Theatre Owners v. FCC, 136 U.S.App.D.C. 352, 420
F.2d 194 (1969), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 922.
12. See, e.g., 67 Cong.Rec. 12615 (1926) (remarks of Sen. Dill); Id. at
5480 (remarks of Rep. White); 68 Cong.Rec. 2567 (1927) (remarks of Rep. Scott);
Hearings on S. 1 and S. 1754 before the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce,
69th Cong., 1st Sess., 121 (1926); Hearings on H.R. 5589 before the House
Committee on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 69th Cong., 1st Sess., 26 and 40
(1926). See also Hearings on H.R. 8825 before the House Committee on the
Merchant Marine and Fisheries, 70th Cong., 1st Sess., passim (1928).
13. In addition to § 1464, the Commission also relied on its power to
regulate in the public interest under 47 U.S.C. § 303(g). We do not need to consider
whether § 303 may have independent significance in a case such as this. The statutes
authorizing civil penalties incorporate § 1464, a criminal statute. See 47 U.S.C. §§
312(a)(6), 312(b)(2), and 503(b)(1)(E) (1970 ed. and Supp. V). But the validity of
the civil sanctions is not linked to the validity of the criminal penalty. The legislative
history of the provisions establishes their independence. As enacted in 1927 and
1934, the prohibition on indecent speech was separate from the provisions imposing
civil and criminal penalties for violating the prohibition. Radio Act of 1927, §§ 14,
29, and 33, 44 Stat. 1168 and 1173; Communications Act of 1934, §§ 312, 326, and
501, 48 Stat. 1086, 1091, and 1100, 47 U.S.C. §§ 312, 326, and 501 (1970 ed. and
Supp. V). The 1927 and 1934 Acts indicated in the strongest possible language that
any invalid provision was separable from the rest of the Act. Radio Act of 1927, § 38,
44 Stat. 1174; Communications Act of 1934, § 608, 48 Stat. 1105, 47 U.S.C. § 608.
Although the 1948 codification of the criminal laws and the addition of new civil
penalties changes the statutory structure, no substantive change was apparently
intended. Cf. Tidewater Oil Co. v. United States, 409 U.S. 151, 162.
Accordingly, we need not consider any question relating to the possible application
of § 1464 as a criminal statute.
14. Webster defines the term as
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (1966).
15. Indeed, at one point, he used "indecency" as a shorthand term for
"patent offensiveness," 370 U.S. at 482, a usage strikingly similar to the Commission's
definition in this case. 56 F.C.C.2d at 98.
16.
Enbanc Programming Inquiry, 44 F.C.C. 2303, 2307 (1960). See also In re
WUHY-FM, 24 F.C.C.2d 408, 412 (1970); In re Sonderlin Broadcasting Corp., 27
R.R.2d 285, on reconsideration, 41 F.C.C.2d 777 (1973), aff'd on other grounds sub
nom. Illinois Citizens Committee for Broadcasting v. FCC, 169 U.S.App.D.C. 166,
515 F.2d 397 (1974); In re Mile High Stations, Inc., 28 F.C.C. 795 (1960); In re
Palmetto Broadcasting Co., 33 F.C.C. 250 (1962), reconsideration denied, 34 F.C.C.
101 (1963), aff'd on other grounds sub nom. Robinson v. FCC, 118 U.S.App.D.C.
144, 334 F.2d 534 (1964), cert. denied, 379 U.S. 843.
17. This conclusion is reinforced by noting the different constitutional
limits on Congress' power to regulate the two different subjects. Use of the postal
power to regulate material that is not fraudulent or obscene raises "grave
constitutional questions." Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc., 327 U.S. 146, 156. But it is
well settled that the First Amendment has a special meaning in the broadcasting
context. See, e.g., FCC v. National Citizens Committee for Broadcasting, 436
U.S. 775; Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367; Columbia
Broadcasting System, Inc. v. Democratic National Committee, 412 U.S. 94. For this
reason, the presumption that Congress never intends to exceed constitutional limits,
which supported Hamling's narrow reading of § 1461, does not support a comparable
reading of § 1464.
18. A requirement that indecent language be avoided will have its primary
effect on the form, rather than the content, of serious communication. There are few,
if any, thoughts that cannot be expressed by the use of less offensive language.
19. Pacifica's position would, of course, deprive the Commission of any
power to regulate erotic telecasts unless they were obscene under Miller v.
California, 413 U.S. 15. Anything that could be sold at a newsstand for private
examination could be publicly displayed on television.
We are assured by Pacifica that the free play of market forces will
discourage indecent programming. "Smut may," as Judge Leventhal put it, "drive
itself from the market and confound Gresham," 181 U.S.App.D.C. at 158, 556 F.2d
at 35; the prosperity of those who traffic in pornographic literature and films would
appear to justify skepticism.
20. Although neither MR. JUSTICE POWELL nor MR. JUSTICE
BRENNAN directly confronts this question, both have answered it affirmatively, the
latter explicitly, post at 768 n. 3, and the former implicitly by concurring in a
judgment that could not otherwise stand.
21. See, e.g., Madison School District v. Wisconsin Employment
Relations Comm'n, 429 U.S. 167, 175-176; First National Bank of Boston
v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765.
22. The monologue does present a point of view; it attempts to show that
the words it uses are "harmless," and that our attitudes toward them are "essentially
silly." See supra at 730. The Commission objects not to this point of view, but
to the way in which it is expressed. The belief that these words are harmless does not
necessarily confer a First Amendment privilege to use them while proselytizing, just
as the conviction that obscenity is harmless does not license one to communicate that
conviction by the indiscriminate distribution of an obscene leaflet.
23. The Commission stated:
56 F.C.C.2d at 98. Our society has a tradition of performing certain bodily functions
in private, and of severely limiting the public exposure or discussion of such matters.
Verbal or physical acts exposing those intimacies are offensive irrespective of any
message that may accompany the exposure.
24. With respect to other types of speech, the Court has tailored its
protection to both the abuses and the uses to which it might be put. See, e.g.,
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (special scienter rules in libel suits
brought by public officials); Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350
(government may strictly regulate truthfulness in commercial speech). See also
Young v. American Mini Theatres, Inc., 427 U.S. 50, 82 n. 6 (POWELL,
J., concurring).
25. The importance of context is illustrated by the Cohen case. That case
arose when Paul Cohen entered a Los Angeles courthouse wearing a jacket
emblazoned with the words "Fuck the Draft." After entering the courtroom, he took
the jacket off and folded it. 403 U.S. at 19 n. 3. So far as the evidence showed,
no one in the courthouse was offended by his jacket. Nonetheless, when he left the
courtroom, Cohen was arrested, convicted of disturbing the peace, and sentenced to
30 days in prison.
In holding that criminal sanctions could not be imposed on Cohen for his
political statement in a public place, the Court rejected the argument that his speech
would offend unwilling viewers; it noted that "there was no evidence that persons
powerless to avoid [his] conduct did in fact object to it." Id. at 22. In contrast,
in this case, the Commission was responding to a listener's strenuous complaint, and
Pacifica does not question its determination that this afternoon broadcast was likely
to offend listeners. It should be noted that the Commission imposed a far more
moderate penalty on Pacifica than the state court imposed on Cohen. Even the
strongest civil penalty at the Commission's command does not include criminal
prosecution. See n. 1, supra.
26. 47 U.S.C. §§ 309(a), 312(a)(2); FCC v. WOKO, Inc., 329 U.S. 223,
229. Cf. Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, 394 U.S. 147; Staub v. Baxley, 355
U.S. 313.
27. Outside the home, the balance between the offensive speaker and the
unwilling audience may sometimes tip in favor of the speaker, requiring the offended
listener to turn away. See Erznoznik v. Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205. As we
noted in Cohen v. California:
403 U.S. at 21. The problem of harassing phone calls is hardly hypothetical.
Congress has recently found it necessary to prohibit debt collectors from "plac[ing]
telephone calls without meaningful disclosure of the caller's identity"; from "engaging
any person in telephone conversation repeatedly or continuously with intent to annoy,
abuse, or harass any person at the called number"; and from "us[ing] obscene or
profane language or language the natural consequence of which is to abuse the hearer
or reader." Consumer Credit Protection Act Amendments, 91 Stat. 877, 15 U.S.C.
§ 1692d (1976 ed., Supp. II).
28. The Commission's action does not by any means reduce adults to
hearing only what is fit for children. Cf. Butler v. Michigan, 352 U.S. 380, 383.
Adults who feel the need may purchase tapes and records or go to theaters and
nightclubs to hear these words. In fact, the Commission has not unequivocally closed
even broadcasting to speech of this sort; whether broadcast audiences in the late
evening contain so few children that playing this monologue would be permissible is
an issue neither the Commission nor this Court has decided.
29. Even a prime time recitation of Geoffrey Chaucer's Miller's Tale
would not be likely to command the attention of many children who are both old
enough to understand and young enough to be adversely affected by passages such
as: "And prively he caughte hire by the queynte." The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer's
Complete Works (Cambridge ed.1933), p. 58, l. 3276.
POWELL, J., concurring (Footnotes)
1. See generally Judge Leventhal's thoughtful opinion in the Court of
Appeals. 181 U.S.App.D.C. 132, 155-158, 556 F.2d 9, 32-35 (1977) (dissenting
opinion).
2. It is true that the radio listener quickly may tune out speech that is
offensive to him. In addition, broadcasters may preface potentially offensive
programs with warnings. But such warnings do not help the unsuspecting listener
who tunes in at the middle of a program. In this respect, too, broadcasting appears
to differ from books and records, which may carry warnings on their face, and from
motion pictures and live performances, which may carry warnings on their marquees.
3. The Court has, however, created a limited exception to this rule in
order to bring commercial speech within the protection of the First Amendment. See
Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Assn., 436 U.S. 447, 455-456 (1978).
4. For much the same reason, I also do not join Part IV-A. I had not
thought that the application vel non of overbreadth analysis should depend on the
Court's judgment as to the value of the protected speech that might be deterred. Cf.
ante at 743. Except in the context of commercial speech, See Bates v. State
Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350, 380-381 (1977), it has not in the past. See, e.g.,
Lewis v. New Orleans, 415 U.S. 130 (1974); Gooding v. Wilson, 405 U.S.
518 (1972).
As MR. JUSTICE STEVENS points out, however, ante at 734, the
Commission's order was limited to the facts of this case; "it did not purport to engage
in formal rulemaking or in the promulgation of any regulations." In addition, since the
Commission may be expected to proceed cautiously, as it has in the past, Cf. Brief for
Petitioner 42-43, and n. 31, I do not foresee an undue "chilling" effect on
broadcasters' exercise of their rights. I agree, therefore, that respondent's overbreadth
challenge is meritless.
BRENNAN, J., dissenting (Footnotes)
1. Where I refer without differentiation to the actions of "the Court," my
reference is to this majority, which consists of my Brothers POWELL and STEVENS
and those Members of the Court joining their separate opinions.
2. Even if the monologue appealed to the prurient interest of minors, it
would not be obscene as to them unless, as to them, "the work, taken as a whole,
lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 24 (1973).
3. It may be that a narrowly drawn regulation prohibiting the use of
offensive language on broadcasts directed specifically at younger children constitutes
one of the "other legitimate proscription[s]" alluded to in Erznoznik. This is so both
because of the difficulties inherent in adapting the Miller formulation to
communications received by young children, and because such children are "not
possessed of that full capacity for individual choice which is the presupposition of the
First Amendment guarantees." Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U.S. 629,
649-650 (1968) (STEWART, J., concurring). I doubt, as my Brother
STEVENS suggests, ante at 745 n. 20, that such a limited regulation amounts
to a regulation of speech based on its content, since, by hypothesis, the only persons
at whom the regulated communication is directed are incapable of evaluating its
content. To the extent that such a regulation is viewed as a regulation based on
content, it marks the outermost limits to which content regulation is permissible.
4. The opinions of my Brothers POWELL and STEVENS rightly refrain
from relying on the notion of "spectrum scarcity" to support their result. As Chief
Judge Bazelon noted below, "although scarcity has justified increasing the diversity
of speakers and speech, it has never been held to justify censorship." 181
U.S.App.D.C. at 152, 556 F.2d at 29 (emphasis in original). See Red Lion
Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 396 (1969).
5. See, e.g., I Samuel 25:22: "So and more also do God unto the enemies
of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth
against the wall"; II Kings 18:27 and Isaiah 36:12: "[H]ath he not sent me to the men
which sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with
you?"; Ezekiel 23:3: "And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed
whoredoms in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the
teats of their virginity."; Ezekiel 23:21: "Thus thou calledst to remembrance the
lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy
youth." The Holy Bible (King James Version) (Oxford 1897).
6. Although ultimately dependent upon the outcome of review in this
Court, the approach taken by my Brother STEVENS would not appear to tolerate the
FCC's suppression of any speech, such as political speech, falling within the core area
of First Amendment concern. The same, however, cannot be said of the approach
taken by my Brother POWELL, which, on its face, permits the Commission to censor
even political speech if it is sufficiently offensive to community standards. A result
more contrary to rudimentary First Amendment principles is difficult to imagine.
7. Having insisted that it seeks to impose sanctions on radio
communications only in the limited circumstances present here, I believe that the FCC
is estopped from using either this decision or its own orders in this case, 56 F.C.C.2d
94 (1975) and 59 F.C.C.2d 892 (1976), as a basis for imposing sanctions on any
public radio broadcast other than one aired during the daytime or early evening and
containing the relentless repetition, for longer than a brief interval, of
56 F.C.C.2d at 98. For surely broadcasters are not now on notice that the
Commission desires to regulate any offensive broadcast other than the type of "verbal
shock treatment" condemned here, or even this "shock treatment" type of offensive
broadcast during the late evening.
8. Under the approach taken by my Brother POWELL, the availability of
broadcasts about groups whose members constitute such audiences might also be
affected. Both news broadcasts about activities involving these groups and public
affairs broadcasts about their concerns are apt to contain interviews, statements, or
remarks by group leaders and members which may contain offensive language to an
extent my Brother POWELL finds unacceptable.
STEWART, J., dissenting (Footnotes)
1. See, e.g., Johnson v. Robison, 415 U.S. 361, 366-367;
United States v. Thirty-seven Photographs, 402 U.S. 363, 369; Rescue
Army v. Municipal Court, 331 U.S. 549, 569; Ashwander v. TVA, 297 U.S.
288, 348 (Brandeis, J., concurring); Crowell v. Benson, 285 U.S. 22,
62.
2. The practice of construing a statute to avoid a constitutional
confrontation is followed whenever there is "`a serious doubt'" as to the statute's
constitutionality. E.g., United States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41, 45; Blodgett v. Holden, 275 U.S. 142, 148 (opinion of Holmes, J.). Thus, the Court has construed a statute
to avoid raising a doubt as to its constitutionality even though the Court later in effect
held that the statute, otherwise construed, would have been constitutionally valid.
Compare General Motors Corp. v. District of Columbia, 380 U.S. 553, with
Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, 437 U.S. 267.
3. The Court properly gives no weight to the Commission's passing
reference in its order to 47 U.S.C. § 303(g). Ante at 739 n. 13. For one thing,
the order clearly rests only upon the Commission's interpretation of the term
"indecent" in § 1464; the attempt by the Commission in this Court to assert that §
303(g) was an independent basis for its action must fail. Cf. SEC v. Chenery Corp., 318 U.S. 80, 94-95; SEC v. Sloan, 436 U.S. 103, 117-118. Moreover, the
general language of § 303(g) cannot be used to circumvent the terms of a specific
statutory mandate such as that of § 1464.
FCC v. American Broadcasting Co., 347 U.S. 284, 290.
4. The Commission did not rely on § 1464's prohibition of "profane"
language, and it is thus unnecessary to consider the scope of that term.
5. The only Federal Court of Appeals (apart from this case) to consider
the question has held that
United States v. Simpson, 561 F.2d 53, 60 (CA7).
6. Section 1464 originated as part of § 29 of the Radio Act of 1927, 44
Stat. 1172, which was reenacted as § 326 of the Communications Act of 1934, 48
Stat. 1091. Neither the committee reports nor the floor debates contain any
discussion of the meaning of "obscene, indecent or profane language."
7. When the Federal Communications Act was amended in 1968 to
prohibit "obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, or indecent" telephone calls, 82 Stat. 112,
47 U.S.C. § 223, the FCC itself indicated that it thought this language covered only
"obscene" telephone calls. See H.R.Rep. No. 1109, 90th Cong., 2d Sess., 7-8 (1968).
8. This construction is further supported by the general rule of lenity in
construing criminal statutes. See Adamo Wrecking Co. v. United States, 434
U.S. 275, 285. The Court's statement that it need not consider the meaning §
1464 would have in a criminal prosecution, ante at 739 n. 13, is contrary to
settled precedent:
FCC v. American Broadcasting Co., supra at 296.
like Twain and Sahl before him, examines the language of ordinary people. . . . Carlin is
not mouthing obscenities, he is merely using words to satirize as harmless and essentially
silly our attitudes towards those words.
associated with the station's license file, and, in the event that subsequent complaints are
received, the Commission will then decide whether it should utilize any of the available
sanctions it has been granted by Congress.[1] [*731]
law generally speaks to channeling behavior more than actually prohibiting it. . . . [T]he
concept [*732] of "indecent" is intimately connected with the exposure of children to
language that describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary
community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities and organs,
at times of the day when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience.
never intended to place an absolute prohibition on the broadcast of this type of language, but
rather sought to channel it to times of day when children most likely would not be exposed
to it.
long-standing policy of refusing to issue interpretive rulings or advisory opinions when the
critical facts are not explicitly stated or there is a possibility that subsequent events will alter
them.
Nothing in this Act shall be understood or construed to give the
licensing authority the power of censorship over the radio communications or signals
transmitted by any radio station, and no regulation or condition shall be promulgated or
fixed by the licensing authority which shall interfere with the right of free speech by means
of radio communications. No person within the jurisdiction of the United States shall utter
any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means of radio communication.
This would not be prohibited "censorship" . . . any more than would the Commission's
considering on a license renewal application whether a broadcaster allowed "coarse, vulgar,
suggestive, double-meaning" programming; programs containing such material are grounds
for denial of a license renewal.
We need not approve every aspect of the fairness doctrine to decide these cases, and we will
not now pass upon the constitutionality of these regulations by envisioning the most extreme
applications conceivable, United States v. Sullivan, 332 U.S. 689, 694 (1948), but will deal
with those problems if and when they arise.
We admit that, in many places and in ordinary times, the defendants, in saying all that was
said in the circular, would have been within their constitutional rights. But the character of
every act depends upon the circumstances in which it is done. . . . The most stringent
protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theatre and
causing a panic. It does not even protect a man from an injunction against uttering words
[*745] that may have all the effect of force. . . . The question in every case is whether
the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear
and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right
to prevent.
[S]uch utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight
social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly
outweighed by the social interest in order and morality.
[C]onstitutional interpretation has consistently recognized that the parents' claim to authority
in their own household to direct the rearing of their children is basic in the structure of our
society.
It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the
parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for obligations the
state can neither supply nor hinder.
That we are often "captives" outside the sanctuary of the home and subject to objectionable
speech and other sound does not mean we must be captives everywhere.
The ability of government, consonant with the Constitution, to shut off
discourse solely to protect others from hearing it is . . . dependent upon a showing that
substantial privacy interests are being invaded in an essentially intolerable manner. Any
broader view of this authority would effectively empower a majority to silence dissidents
simply as a matter of personal predilections.
having elected to receive public air waves, the scanner who stumbles onto an offensive
program is in the same position as the unsuspecting passers-by in Cohen and
Erznoznik [v. Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205 (1975)]; he can avert his attention by
changing channels or turning off the set.
[s]peech that is neither obscene as to youths nor subject to some other legitimate
proscription cannot be suppressed solely to protect the young from ideas or images that a
legislative body thinks unsuitable for them.
The incidence of this enactment is to reduce the adult population of Michigan to reading
only what is fit for children. It thereby arbitrarily curtails one of those liberties of the
individual, now enshrined in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, that
history has attested as the indispensable conditions for the maintenance and progress of a
free society.
broadcasting for nearly twelve minutes a record which repeated over and over words which
depict sexual or excretory activities and organs in a manner patently offensive by its
community's contemporary standards in the early afternoon when children were in the
audience.
we cannot indulge the facile assumption that one can forbid particular words without also
running a substantial risk of suppressing ideas in the process.
[W]e cannot overlook the fact, because it is well illustrated by the episode involved here,
that much linguistic expression serves a dual communicative function: it conveys [*774] not only ideas capable of relatively precise, detached explication, but otherwise
inexpressible emotions as well. In fact, words are often chosen as much for their emotive
as their cognitive force. We cannot sanction the view that the Constitution, while solicitous
of the cognitive content of individual speech, has little or no regard for that emotive function
which, practically speaking, may often be the more important element of the overall message
sought to be communicated.
The Commission's holding does not prevent willing adults from purchasing Carlin's record,
from attending his performances, or, indeed, from reading the transcript reprinted as an
appendix to the Court's opinion.
A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged, it is the skin of a
living thought, and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and
the time in which it is used.
[w]ords generally considered obscene, like "bullshit" and "fuck" are considered neither
obscene nor derogatory in the [black] vernacular except in particular contextual situations
and when used with certain intonations.
construe[d] the generic terms in [§ 1461] to be limited to the sort of "patently offensive
representations or descriptions of that specific `hard core' sexual conduct given as examples
in Miller v. California.
Congress has specifically empowered the FCC to (1) revoke a station's
license (2) issue a cease and desist order, or (3) impose a monetary forfeiture for a violation
of Section 1464, 47 U.S.C. [§§] 312(a), 312(b), 503(b)(1) (E). The FCC can also (4) deny
license renewal or (5) grant a short term renewal, 47 U.S.C. [§§] 307, 308.
Broadcasting requires special treatment because of four important
considerations: (1) children have access to radios and in many cases are unsupervised by
parents; (2) radio receivers are in the home, a place where people's privacy interest is
entitled to extra deference, See Rowan v. Post Office Dept., 397 U.S. 728 (1970); (3)
unconsenting adults may tune in a station without any warning that offensive language is
being or will be broadcast; and (4) there is a scarcity of spectrum space, the use of which
the government must therefore license in the public interest. Of special concern to the
Commission, as well as parents, is the first point regarding the use of radio by children.
Whoever utters any obscene, indecent, or profane language by means
of radio communication shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than
two years, or both.
Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the Commission from
time to time, as public convenience, interest, or necessity requires, shall --
(g) . . . generally encourage the larger and more effective use of radio
in the public interest.
[W]e can regulate offensive speech to the extent it constitutes a public nuisance. . . . The
governing idea is that "indecency" is not an inherent attribute of words themselves; it is,
rather, a matter of context and conduct. . . . If I were called on to do so, I would find that
Carlin's monologue, if it were broadcast at an appropriate hour and accompanied by suitable
warning, was distinguished by sufficient literary value to avoid being "indecent" within the
meaning of the statute.
"[I]n some cases, public events likely to produce offensive speech are
covered live, and there is no opportunity for journalistic editing." Under these
circumstances, we believe that it would be inequitable for us to hold a licensee responsible
for indecent language. . . . We trust that, under such circumstances, a licensee will exercise
judgment, responsibility, and sensitivity to the community's needs, interests and tastes.
Nothing in this Act shall be understood or construed to give the Commission the power of
censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted by any radio station, and
no regulation or condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall
interfere with the right of free speech by means of radio communication.
This means, I feel sure, the sort of censorship which went on in the seventeenth century in
England -- the deletion of specific items and dictation as to what should go into particular
programs.
This contention is without merit. There has been no attempt on the part of the commission
to subject any part of appellant's broadcasting matter to scrutiny prior to its release. In
considering the question whether the public interest, convenience, or necessity will be
served by a renewal of appellant's license, the commission has merely exercised its
undoubted right to take note of appellant's past conduct, which is not censorship.
offend the religious susceptibilities of thousands . . . or offend youth and innocence by the
free use of words suggestive of sexual immorality.
this does not mean that the government, through agencies established by Congress, may not
refuse a renewal of license to one who has abused it.
a: altogether unbecoming: contrary to what the nature of things or what circumstances
would dictate as right or expected or appropriate: hardly suitable: UNSEEMLY . . . b: not
conforming to generally accepted standards of morality: . . . .
"[W]hile a nudist magazine may be within the protection of the First Amendment . . . , the
televising of nudes might well raise a serious question of programming contrary to 18
U.S.C. § 1464. . . . Similarly, regardless of whether the "4-letter words" and sexual
description, set forth in "Lady Chatterly's Lover, (when considered in the context of the
whole book) make the book obscene for mailability purposes, the utterance of such words
or the depiction of such sexual activity on radio or TV would raise similar public interest
and section 1464 questions."
Obnoxious, gutter language describing these matters has the effect of debasing and
brutalizing human beings by reducing them to their mere bodily functions. . . .
While this Court has recognized that government may properly act in many situations to
prohibit intrusion into the privacy of the home of unwelcome views and ideas which cannot
be totally banned from the public dialogue . . . , we have at the same time consistently
stressed that "we are often `captives' outside the sanctuary of the home, and subject to
objectionable speech."
language that describes, in term patently offensive as measured by contemporary community
standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities and organs.
[T]he Commission's power in this respect is limited by the scope of the statute. Unless the
[language] involved here [is] illegal under § [1464], the Commission cannot employ the
statute to make [it] so by agency action.
"obscene" and "indecent" in § 1464 are to be read as parts of a single proscription,
applicable only if the challenged language appeals to the prurient interest.
It is true . . . that these are not criminal cases, but it is a criminal statute
that we must interpret. There cannot be one construction for the Federal Communications
Commission and another for the Department of Justice. If we should give § [1464] the
broad construction urged by the Commission, the same construction would likewise apply
in criminal cases.