Washington (CNN) -- An appeal over singer Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" and brief partial nudity on national television has reached the Supreme Court, the latest free speech episode over indecent, if fleeting, images and words on the public airwaves. The Obama administration has asked the Supreme Court to decide whether record government fines against CBS should be allowed to stand. A federal appeals court last November ruled for the network and its affiliates, saying the Federal Communications Commission's sanctions were improper. The agency had punished the network with a $550,000 fine after the pop singer's breast was briefly exposed during a live halftime show with fellow entertainer Justin Timberlake at the 2004 Super Bowl.
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The Obama administration wants the Supreme Court to rule on FCC fines
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An appeals court last year said the agency's sanctions were improper
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Family advocacy groups have blasted the appeals court's opinion
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The Supreme Court will decide later this year whether to accept the case
But @placeholder countered that the government in recent decades has applied inconsistent rules to indecent words and images, punishing some instances and ignoring others.