U.S. Supreme Court New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971) New York Times Co. v. United States No. 1873 Argued June 26, 1971 Decided June 30, 1971* 403 U.S. 713

Katharine  Graham

 

In 1971, I was a political science major in my senior year in college. This topic dominated the conversation in all of my poli sci classes regardless of the course title and the intended subject matter. From kindergarten on, a civically educated society is an imperative.  Education is not just about acquiring a set of job skills.  It is about being an informed responsible member of the republic.

Page 403 U. S. 717

“In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection it must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government’s power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people. Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government. And paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people and sending them off to distant lands to die of foreign fevers and foreign shot and shell. In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose that the Founding Fathers saw so clearly. In revealing the workings of government that led to the Vietnam war, the newspapers nobly did precisely that which the Founders hoped and trusted they would do.”

 403 U. S. 721-722.

“To find that the President has ‘inherent power’ to halt the publication of news by resort to the courts would wipe out the First Amendment and destroy the fundamental liberty and security of the very people the Government hopes to make ‘secure.’ No one can read the history of the adoption of the First Amendment without being convinced beyond any doubt that it was injunctions like those sought here that Madison and his collaborators intended to outlaw in this Nation for all time.”