Abscam videotapes OK'd for television showing

October 15, 1980

The Supreme Court agreed to permit the FBI's secretly recorded Abscam videotapes to be shown by network television, letting the public see the key evidence used to convict ousted Rep. Michael O. Meyers (D) of Pennsylvania of taking a $50,000 bribe from undercover agents.

The court also handed a victory to so-called "DES daughters: by refusing to review a ruling allowing money damages to women diagnosed as having contracted cancer because their mothers took the drug to prevent miscarriages.