On April 28, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision upheld the FCC’s policy that even the fleeting use of certain expletives violates the agency’s indecency rules. A narrow majority of the court found that, as a matter of administrative law, the FCC had justified its change of policy regarding the fleeting use of expletives, reversing an earlier decision of the federal appeals court in New York that the FCC had not properly justified its policy reversal.

As expected, the Supreme Court did not reach the constitutional issues raised by the FCC’s strict fleeting expletives policy. This case has now been sent back to the New York appeals court, which will consider the First Amendment questions raised by the FCC’s indecency rules. Read the Court’s opinion here.