George Carlin who went from a career as a clean-cut comedian to the irreverent voice of the 1970's counterculture and who was still doing shows, died of heart failure on Sunday at age 71.
"Known for his edgy, provocative material developed over 50 years, the bald, bearded Carlin achieved status as an anti-Establishment icon in the 1970s with stand-up bits full of drug references and a routine called "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television." A regulatory battle over a radio broadcast of the routine ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In the 1978 case, Federal Communications Commission vs. Pacifica Foundation, the top U.S. court ruled that the words cited in Carlin's routine were indecent, and that the governmentâs broadcast regulator could ban them from being aired at times when children might be listening."
(Source: George Carlin Dies at 71, James Joyner, Outside The Beltway,June 23, 2008 )
Link to Federal Communications Commission v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726,Decided July 3, 1978
Majority by: Stevens Joined by: Burger, Blackmun, Rehnquist, Powell
Concurrence by: Powell Joined by: Blackmun
Dissent by: Brennan Joined by: Marshall
Dissent by: Stewart Joined by: Brennan, White, Marshall
MP3 File recording FCC v. Pacifica Foundation - Opinion Announcement
MP3 File recording of the oral argument before the Court.
The Oyez Project, FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978)
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