Court wrestles with TV profanity case
Lawyer Blogs
The Supreme Court spent an hour on Tuesday talking about dirty words on television without once using any or making plain how it would decide whether the government could ban them.
The dispute between the broadcast networks and the Federal Communications Commission is the court's first major broadcast indecency case in 30 years.
At issue is the FCC's policy, adopted in 2004, that even a one-time use of profanity on live television is indecent because some words are so offensive that they always evoke sexual or excretory images. So-called fleeting expletives were not treated as indecent before then.
The words in question begin with the letters "F" and "S." The Associated Press typically does not use them.
Chief Justice John Roberts, the only justice with young children at home, suggested that the commission's policy is reasonable. The use of either word, Roberts said, "is associated with sexual or excretory activity. That's what gives it its force."
Justice John Paul Stevens, who appeared skeptical of the policy, doubted that the f-word always conveys a sexual image.
Related listings
-
Amputee awaits high court, wants musical glow back
Lawyer Blogs 10/31/2008[##_1L|1287159052.jpg|width="120" height="88" alt=""|_##]When Diana Levine turned 63 recently, her daughter made her a birthday card, drawing on Greek mythology with an illustration of Diana the Huntress, her bow string drawn taut, an arrow ready to ...
-
Fla. ruling will help widow's anthrax lawsuit
Lawyer Blogs 10/30/2008A Florida Supreme Court ruling issued Thursday will help the widow of an anthrax victim make her case that the government was ultimately responsible for her husband's death.Maureen Stevens' husband, Robert, was a photo editor who was exposed to anthr...
-
Feds: Suspect in hoax anthrax scare did it before
Lawyer Blogs 10/30/2008A California man suspected of mailing more than 120 hoax anthrax letters to media outlets was interviewed previously by the FBI after one similar mailing in 2007, but he was not charged.Marc M. Keyser, 66, was interviewed by the FBI in January 2007 f...
Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC
A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party
Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party
However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.