1

Case Briefing

Student’s Name

Institutional affiliation

Course

Instructor

Date
 2

Case Briefing

Discussion Topic

The New York Times Company (“the Times”) published the Pentagon Papers, a

classified history of United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The United States

Department of Justice (“DOJ”) obtained a court order from the United States District Court for

the District of Columbia (“District Court”) requiring the Times to cease and desist from

publishing the papers (Ernst,2009). The Times appealed the order to the United States Court of

Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (“Circuit Court”).

Issue/Legal Question

The law at issue, in this case, is the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The question is whether the New York Times Co. can be forced to reveal its sources for the

publication of the article “Pentagon Papers” in 1971.

Holding

The holding of the court is that the government cannot prevent the publication of

classified information unless there is a direct and immediate threat to national security and the

information in question has not already been published (Smith, 2001). Additionally, the First

Amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of the press and prohibits any

law from being passed that would restrict this right.

The Reasoning of the Court

In its decision, the court held that the government could not prevent the publication of the

classified information of the issue in the case because doing so would violate the First

Amendment. It also found that the government’s interest in protecting national security was not

sufficiently compelling to justify the suppression of newsworthy information. (Kalven, 1964)

 3

Other Opinions

There are a number of other opinions on the law at issue in this case, but the most

prominent is probably the dissenting opinions of Justice Hugo Black and Justice William O.

Douglas. Justice Black argued that the First Amendment does not protect blasphemy, and Justice

Douglas argued that the Constitution does protect free speech. Other opinions are the concurring

opinion of Justice Potter Stewart, which upholds the conviction, and the dissenting opinion of

Justice William Brennan, which argues that the First Amendment should be amended to protect

blasphemous speech.
 4

References

Ernst, C. H., & Lovich, J. E. (2009). Turtles of the united states and Canada. JHU Press

Kalven Jr, H. (1964). The New York Times Case: A Note on” The Central Meaning of the First

Amendment”. The Supreme Court Review, 1964, 191-221.

Smith, D. G. (2001). Pennak’s freshwater invertebrates of the United States: Porifera to

Crustacea. John Wiley & Sons.