Commissioner Copps: FCC Has Good Case for Profanity Appeal

Copps: ‘I Think We Have a More than Credible Case’

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/27/2007 11:44:00 AM

Republican Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin and Democratic commissioner Michael Copps are often on the opposite sides of issues, but they are on the same page when it comes to defending the FCC's crackdown on profanity.

At a meeting with reporters Thursday, Copps was asked whether he thought the government made the right call in seeking Supreme Court review of a lower-court decision finding the FCC had not justified its crackdown on fleeting profanities. "Yes, I do," he said emphatically even before the question could be finished.

Asked if he thought the commission had a good case for overturning the decision, he said yes, adding, "I think we have the legal precedents for it and we have a sound case to go to the court on. The rules remain important."

Copps pointed to protection of children as a point in the FCC's favor. "I think the court has always been confident, and the impact on families and kids, and the special things you can do when you are talking about the future of your kids,” he said. “I think we have a more than credible case."

The solicitor general this week received an extension until Nov. 1 to file the petition, burying the lead in the last paragraph, which was to point out that the Department of Justice had decided to seek the appeal. The FCC passed on a full-court review of a decision by the three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.