The Supreme Court on Monday ordered a federal appeals court to re-examine its earlier ruling in favor of CBS Corp over Janet Jackson's infamous wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 Super Bowl.

The Supreme Court ordered the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to consider reinstating the $550,000 fine that the Federal Communications Commission imposed on CBS over Jackson's breast-baring halftime performance.

Last year, the appeals court threw out the fine against CBS, saying the FCC strayed from its long-held approach of applying identical standards to words and images when reviewing complaints of indecency.

The appellate court said the incident lasted nine-sixteenths of one second and should have been regarded as "fleeting." The FCC previously deviated from its nearly 30-year practice of fining indecent broadcast programming only when it was so "pervasive as to amount to 'shock treatment' for the audience," the court said.

The FCC appealed to the Supreme Court, in FCC v. CBS Corp., 08-653, but was postponed while justices dealt with a challenge by Fox Television against the FCC's policy on fleeting expletives.