Judges in the case about Janet Jackson’s split-second Super Bowl breast-baring...
Judges in the case about Janet Jackson’s split-second Super Bowl breast-baring asked the parties in CBS v. FCC to file supplemental briefs by Dec. 22. “Assuming we reach the issue of scienter” -- intent or knowledge of wrongdoing -- “and…
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assuming recklessness is the minimum standard of culpability for imposition of a civil forfeiture penalty, is the standard for recklessness the one commonly used in the civil context or the one commonly used in the criminal context?” asked the order Tuesday from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. The court has asked for supplemental briefs before in the case. Tuesday’s request “points towards a very narrow decision examining the legal standards the FCC should employ in indecency cases,” said Senior Vice President Andrew Schwartzman of the Media Access Project, an attorney in the case whose clients sided with CBS. “It implies that the panel is ready to rule that the FCC must find that CBS knew or should have known that Janet Jackson was going to do what she did. The letter asks for legal arguments on whether a civil or criminal test should be used for this determination. That outcome would likely require a remand to the FCC."