Significance: This ruling strengthened the position of the media against governmental secrecy. In issuing its decision, the Supreme Court took a stand against the use of restraining orders to try to block publication of embarrassing information about the executive branch.
Background: During the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson’s defense secretary, Robert McNamara, had his office compile vast information about the Vietnam War. The final, classified document—known as the Pentagon Papers—revealed the use of secrecy and deception by the Johnson administration. On June 13, 1971, the New York Times began to publish excerpts from the Pentagon Papers. President Richard Nixon worried that publication of the document would weaken the reputation of the executive office and that future presidents would lose control over classified documents. His administration used a court order to temporarily halt further publication of the document. The government’s argument for the restraint order was that publishing secret information about the war would endanger lives, the release of prisoners of war, and the peace process to end the war.
Decision: This case was argued on June 26, 1971, and decided on June 30, 1971, by a vote of 6 to 3. The Supreme Court did not lift the temporary restraining order but denied the government’s request for a permanent restraint. All the justices for the majority wrote separate opinions. Justices William Douglas, Hugo Black, and William Brennan indicated that the Court should have lifted the temporary restraint on the publication as well, saying that any such restraint was wrong. Justices Thurgood Marshall, Potter Stewart, and Byron White agreed that the temporary restraint was unnecessary in this case, but they did not agree that no restraint could ever be used in such a situation. In dissent were Chief Justice Warren Burger and Justices Harry Blackmun and John Harlan. They objected that the case and decision had been rushed. Burger believed that publishers who printed classified documents should be prosecuted, but only after they published the materials.
