August 7, 2008
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today filed a friend-of-the-court [amicus] brief on behalf of creative arts, media and free speech organizations criticizing the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) regulation of "indecent speech" as arbitrary, inconsistent and irreconcilable with core First Amendment values. The brief urged the Supreme Court to uphold a lower court ruling in FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc. striking down the recent FCC decision to ban even "fleeting expletives" from the airwaves as an unjustified departure from the agency's longstanding practices.
The DGA was one of several organizations that joined the ACLU's brief: “For the first time in 30 years, the Supreme Court will review its policy on censorship of indecency,” said DGA President Michael Apted in the ACLU press release. “We've joined this amicus brief to assert our strong objection to the FCC's capricious and inconsistent application of its policies on indecency and profanity as an unconstitutional expansion of the FCC's control over the creative process and an unwarranted governmental intrusion on free speech."
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To view the full ACLU press release, please visit their website at www.aclu.org