FCC vs. The League of Women Voters: the Case That Pitted Samuel Alito Against Pacifica

We turn now to the nomination of Supreme Court Samuel Alito.

Audio:
"We will hear arguments next in Federal Communications Commission against The League of Women Voters. Mr. Alito, I think you may proceed when you're ready."

Those were the words of Chief Justice Warren Burger in January 1984 as he opened a Supreme Court case that pitted Samuel Alito against Pacifica Radio.

At the time Alito was working as an Assistant to Solicitor General Rex Lee in the Reagan Justice Department. The case centered on the constitutionality of a law that prohibited the airing of editorials by any public radio and tv outlet that received funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The law was challenged Pacifica Radio as well as the League of Women Voters of California and Democratic Congressman Henry Waxman. The case was known as the FCC v. League of Women Voters.

Samuel Alito argued before the court in favor of the ban on editorials in what the Los Angeles Times described at the time as "one of the most important First Amendment cases of the current Supreme Court term."

In a minute we will hear part of Alito's argument. But first we will take a listen to attorney Frederic Woocher arguing against the law.

* Frederic Woocher, Arguing Before Supreme Court, 1984.

At the time Woocher was working for the Center for Law in the Public Interest. Earlier in the proceedings then assistant solicitor general Samuel Alito argued in favor of the ban on editorializing by public radio and TV stations that received government funding. This is an excerpt of Alito's argument before Supreme Court

* Justice John Paul Stevens questioning Samuel Alito, 1984.

Alito was defending a law prohibiting the broadcast of editorials by public radio and TV broadcasters that received federal ruling. Six months later the Supreme Court declared the editorial ban unconstitutional because if violated First Amendment free-speech guarantees. A series of outside groups also weighed in on the issue. The National Association of Broadcasters, CBS and the American Civil Liberties all backed Pacifica while the oil giant Mobil defended the ban on editorials.

In the majority opinion, Justice William Brennan wrote that the ban strikes "at the heart" of the First Amendment because it "directly prohibits the broadcaster from speaking out on public issues even in a balanced and fair manner."

Brennan was joined in the majority by Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun, Lewis Powell and Sandra Day O'Connor.

* Frederic Woocher, attorney who argued before the Supreme Court in the case of FCC v. League of Woman Voters on January 16, 1984. He is now an attorney in private practice in Santa Monica, California.

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