ABSTRACT
In New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 US 713, the US Supreme Court held that the First Amendment to the US Constitution prohibited government from engaging in prior censorship of speech, and the Court refused to enjoin newspapers from publishing a purloined Defense Department document. The legal question presented was whether the government's claim that publication would endanger national security could justify prohibiting in advance the publication of the Pentagon Papers. The government's claim was at odds with the core meaning of the First Amendment that the government may not suppress speech before it is released, even if the speech could later be punished. By contrast, dissenters Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and John Marshall Harlan thought that the New York Times had been irresponsible in not consulting with the government prior to publication. They also thought the Court should give greater deference to presidential actions involving foreign affairs.
