WASHINGTON (June 21, 2012)—The U.S. Supreme Court Thursday threw out fines and sanctions against broadcasters who violated the Federal Communications Commission policy regulating curse words and nudity on broadcast television.

The justices declined Thursday to issue a broad ruling on the constitutionality of the FCC indecency policy, but instead concluded only that broadcasters could not have known in advance that obscenities uttered during awards show programs and a brief display of nudity on an episode of ABC's NYPD Blue could give rise to sanctions.

The justices said the FCC is free to revise its indecency policy.