ABSTRACT
The Cold War arms race was still hot in March 1979, and United States v. The Progressive, Inc., 486 F. Supp. 5, was heard and decided by US District Judge Robert Warren of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that year. Judge Warren blocked publication of what the government contended was "restricted data" under the Atomic Energy Act, a law that automatically treated virtually all nuclear information as classified. Judge Warren's decision acknowledged that prior restraints on publication carried a heavy presumption of unconstitutionality, but he ruled that the article fell into a narrow exception for national security matters ". The Morland piece could accelerate the membership of a candidate nation in the thermonuclear club," he speculated in his opinion, rejecting the magazine's argument that the article would merely alert readers to their false illusion of security and to the government's futile attempts at secrecy.
