Exhibit 382

New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713

Exhibit 382 · Court opinion

New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713

held that the Government had not met that burden. We agree.

Court refuses to enjoin the Times and Post from publishing the classified Defense Department study 'History of U.S. Decision-Making Process on Viet Nam Policy'; separate opinions from nine Justices. Stewart (with White) accepted that the Executive was correct about some documents but could not find sure, direct, immediate and irreparable damage.

Source: U.S. Supreme Court (per curiam)
Date: 30 June 1971
Quoted from: per curiam, para 2 (Cornell numbering); 403 U.S. at 714
Grade: Primary record
Document: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/403/713
Accessed: 2026-11-09
Cited by: Findings citing this exhibit
Note: Stewart, J., concurring: 'I cannot say that disclosure of any of them will surely result in direct, immediate, and irreparable damage to our Nation or its people.' (Cornell para 49).

Cited by

Finding DEF-2.3: Primary record The Defense Department's Vietnam study, commissioned by Secretary McNamara in 1967 and presented to Secretary Clifford on 15 January 1969, reached the press in June 1971. On 30 June 1971 the Supreme Court held that the government had not met its burden of justifying a prior restraint on publication, and in 2011 the National Archives released the complete report, of which about 34 percent had never been available.