It’s taken four years, but finally a federal appeals court has ruled on the Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” at Super Bowl 2004 tossing out the FCC’s $550,000 fine against on CBS for the incident that put “wardrobe malfunction” into our everyday language and the underlying issue of indecency into public debate and dispute.

A federal appeals court has slapped the Federal Communications Commission for slapping CBS with a $550,000 fine for the boob-flash seen around the world.

In tossing out the fine, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the commission had acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” when penalizing CBS for the infamous Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.

The Philadelphia court said the FCC fine was based on an unjustified and unexplained change in agency policy.

Last year, another appeals court ruled similarly against the FCC, tossing out the commission’s then-new policy of fining broadcasters for fleeting, one-time expletives. That case, involving language, has been accepted for review by the Supreme Court.

Monday’s ruling was a second damaging blow to FCC chairman Kevin J. Martin’s attempts to crack down on broadcast indecency. While acknowledging that the FCC has authority over such content, the court nonetheless made clear that the agency had overstepped its authority and failed to explain why.

“Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing,” the court wrote. “But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure.”

In its 102-page opinion, the court noted that for almost 30 years, the FCC had exempted so-called fleeting instances of indecency, since Supreme Court precedent required that the offending matter be “pervasive” and “repeated.”

“During a span of nearly three decades, the commission frequently declined to find broadcast programming indecent, its restraint punctuated only by a few occasions where programming contained indecent material so pervasive as to amount to ‘shock treatment’ for the audience,” the court wrote. “Throughout this period, the commission consistently explained that isolated or fleeting material did not fall within the scope of actionable indecency.”

Source: Court tosses FCC Super Bowl fine

Photos: Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime, February 1, 2004 Photo credit: Getty Images

Here is the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction video, showing the last minute and a half of the “Rock Your Body” performance with Justin Timberlake at Super Bowl 2004.



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Janet Jackson Wardrobe Malfunction: Court Throws out FCC $550,000 Fine