New York Times Co. v. United States (1971
New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the First Amendment right to freedom of the press. The ruling made it possible for The New York Times and The Washington Post newspapers to publish the then-classified Pentagon Papers without risk of government censorship or punishment.[1]
President Richard Nixon had claimed executive authority to force the Times to suspend publication of classified information in its possession. The question before the court was whether the constitutional freedom of the press, guaranteed by the First Amendment, was subordinate to a claimed need of the executive branch of government to maintain the secrecy of information. The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did protect the right of The New York Times to print the materials
The New York Times and The Washington Post acquired the “Pentagon Papers,” a secret study by the Defense Department that analyzed U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Daniel Ellsberg, who worked at the RAND Corporation, contributed to the report. He eventually took photos of thousands of its pages and shared them with a reporter from the New York Times. In 1971, the Times started to publish these documents. The Nixon Administration claimed that the articles threatened national security and sought a court order to prevent the newspapers from continuing to publish the Pentagon Papers. However, the Supreme Court issued a per curiam decision, rejecting the Administration's attempts. The Court determined that the Administration could not overcome the strong presumption against prior restraints, which are government efforts to prevent publication. There has been a longstanding American tradition, dating back to the nation's founding, opposing restrictions on press freedom. Consequently, the newspapers were allowed to continue publishing the Pentagon Papers. This case reinforced a fundamental principle of the First Amendment: the press's right to criticize the government and hold it accountable for its actions.