After what seems like a billion (but was actually just four) years, Janet Jackson’s boob is no longer in trouble. Or at least it won’t have to pay a huge fine for getting into trouble in the first place. After a long and contentious legal battle with the FCC, CBS had the $550,000 fine thrown out. And considering how long it took, I’m guessing they spent a hell of a lot more on legal fees than the actual indecency fine. CBS and their nipple principals. It’s cute.

The long-running legal saga involving the escape of Janet Jackson’s right breast during the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl has apparently come to an end as a federal appeals court today tossed out the $550,000 indecency fine against CBS Corp. In its ruling, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Federal Communications Commission “acted arbitrarily and capriciously” when it issued the pricey penalty against the network for the boob slippage.

But in today’s decision, the three-judge appellate panel ruled that the FCC had overreacted and ignored its 30-year practice of only fining for indecent programming that is “pervasive as to amount to ‘shock treatment’ for the audience.” Nipplegate didn’t fit the bill, the justice’s [sic] ruled.

“Like any agency, the FCC may change its policies without judicial second-guessing,” the court said. “But it cannot change a well-established course of action without supplying notice of and a reasoned explanation for its policy departure.”

The panel also said CBS shouldn’t be held financially accountable for the singers’ actions because they weren’t network staffers. “The FCC cannot impose liability on CBS for the acts of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, independent contractors hired for the limited purposes of the halftime show.”

[From E! News]

The Parents Television Council was shockingly infuriated, saying that the judges had “hijacked the will of the American people.” Tim Winter, the president of the PTC, also alleged that the judges were morons, noting that their decision bored on “judicial stupidity.” How kind of a conservative group that represents a minority of the public to believe his opinions to be such absolute fact that they represent all Americans.

While the whole debacle was really annoying, pissing off the Parents Television Council to this level makes it almost worth it. And let us never speak of nipples again.