Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission

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Red Lion Brioadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued April 2 – 3, 1969
Decided June 25, 1969


Full case name:	Red Lion Broadcasting Company, Incorporated, et al. v. Federal Communications Commission, et al.

Citations:	395 U.S. 367; 89 S. Ct. 1794; 23 L. Ed. 2d 371; 1974 U.S. LEXIS 88; 1 Media L. Rep. 2053

Prior history:	Motion to dismiss denied, 306 F. Supp. 310 (N.D. Ill. 1969); judgment for plaintiff, N.D. Ill.; judgment set aside, judgment for defendant, 322 F. Supp. 997 (N.D. Ill. 1970); affirmed, 471 F.2d 801 (7th Cir. 1972); rehearing denied, 7th Circuit, 9-7-72; cert. granted, 410 U.S. 925 (1973)

Subsequent history:	Retrial on remand, judgment for plaintiff, N.D. Ill.; affirmed, 680 F.2d 527 (7th Cir. 1982); certiorari denied, 459 U.S. 1226 (1983)

Holding

The First Amendment permits federal agency to formulate rules to allow persons defamed or potentially defamed access to equal time to respond and fairness standard for editorial speech by broadcast radio stations. Seventh Circuit reversed.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Earl Warren
Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Abe Fortas, Thurgood Marshall

Case opinions

Majority by: White
Joined by: Warren, Black, Harlan, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall
Douglas took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Laws applied

U.S. Const. amend. I

Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. Federal Communications Commission, 395 U.S. 367 (1969), established the doctrine that broadcast television (and by logical extension, radio) are full First Amendment speakers whose editorial speech could not be regulated absent good reason. However, because they were granted government licenses on a scarce radio spectrum, they could be regulated to preserve openness in covering news by the FCC.

The FCC by administrative rulemaking added the requirement that discussion of public issues be presented on broadcast stations, and that each side of those issues must be given fair coverage 395 U.S. 367, 369. Therefore they added an equal time rule and another response to personal attack rule. The station challenge these rules as unconstiutuionally infringing on the speech of the station's editorial judgement. Justice Byron White, writing for the majority the FCC has included among the conditions of the Red Lion license itself the requirement that operation of the station be carried out in the public interest. Id. at 380.