# Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.

> Supreme Court of the United States · June 21, 2012 · 567 U.S. 239

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9500750

## Case

- **Full name:** FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Et Al. v. FOX TELEVISION STATIONS, INC., Et Al.
- **Court:** Supreme Court of the United States
- **Decided:** June 21, 2012
- **Citations:** 567 U.S. 239; 132 S. Ct. 2307; 183 L. Ed. 2d 234; 2012 U.S. LEXIS 4661
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Ginsburg
- **Judges:** Kennedy, Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, Breyer, Auto, Kagan, Ginsburg, Sotomayor
- **Cited by:** 888 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9500750

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that Fair Sentencing Act applies to defendants sentenced after the effective date of the Act: “We have explained how in federal sentencing the ordinary practice is to apply new penalties to defendants not yet sentenced, while withholding that change from defendants alr…
- holding that the lower statutory minima and maxima for crack cocaine offenses adopted by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, 124 Stat. 2372, apply to defendants who are sentenced after the effective date of the Act, regardless of whether the offense was committed before or after …
- recognizing that the “requirement of clarity in regulation is essential to the protections provided by the Due Process Clause” and that “[w]hen speech is involved, rigorous adherence to [due- process] requirements is necessary to ensure that ambiguity does not chill protected …
- recognizing that because a federal sentencing statute “trumps the Guidelines!!,] • • • ordinarily no matter what range the Guidelines set forth, a sentencing judge must sentence an offender to at least the minimum prison term set forth in a statutory mandatory minimum”
- holding that the penalty provisions of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (“FSA”), Pub.L. No. 111-220, 124 Stat. 2372, apply retroactively to defendants who committed their offenses prior to the August 3, 2010 enactment date but were not sentenced until after that date

## Opinion text

Justice Ginsburg,
concurring in the judgment.
In my view, the Court’s decision in FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U. S. 726 (1978), was wrong when it issued. Time, technological advances, and the Commission’s untenable rulings in the cases now before the Court show why Pacifica bears reconsideration. Cf. FCC v. Fox Television Stations, Inc., 556 U. S. 502, 532-535 (2009) (Thomas, J., concurring).

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9500750. Public record. Not legal advice.