We the People: Supreme Court rules on secrecy v. public's right to know

The Pentagon Papers case, which proceeded through the federal courts at record pace, presented the U.S. Supreme Court with a sharply drawn question of great importance to the First Amendment: Does the judiciary have authority to prohibit publication of information whose secrecy is characterized by the president as critical to the nation's security?

On June 30, 1971, the Supreme Court rendered an h...