SB QST @ ARRL $ARLB058
ARLB058 Fines are fine
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 58  ARLB058
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT  May 21, 1993
To all radio amateurs

FCC fines are fine

A federal court judge in Washington, DC, has found for the Federal
Communications Commission in a lawsuit in which the ARRL supported
the FCC.

The suit, brought by Action for Children's Television and 20 other
broadcasting and public-interest organizations, challenged the FCC's
monetary forfeiture procedures in indecency cases.  The League's
interest in the matter, the ARRL said in a friend-of- the-court
brief, was to protect the interests of radio amateurs in effective
FCC enforcement.

On May 18, U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth granted an FCC
motion to dismiss the plaintiffs' request that all indecency
forfeiture proceedings currently before the FCC be dismissed; as
well as a Commission motion to dismiss the major complainants in the
lawsuit for ''lack of standing.''

In addition, Judge Lamberth granted the FCC's motion to dismiss the
two other major points sought by the plaintiffs:

1.  To find that the review procedures now used by the FCC cannot
constitutionally be used to adjudicate alleged indecency violations
under federal law; and

2. To enjoin the FCC from initiating or conducting forfeiture
proceedings for alleged violations of federal law concerning
indecency.

The court did deny the FCC's motion to dismiss a constitutional
claim by Infininity Broadcasting Corp. arising from a 1990 Notice of
Apparent Liability.

The entire case was ordered dismissed.

More information is in June QST, page 77.
/EX