Prior restraint

Prior restraint is a legal or administrative order that prevents expression before it is published or performed. It differs from punishment imposed after publication.

Near v. Minnesota: A 1931 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down a state law used to suppress a newspaper as a public nuisance. The Court treated censorship of a newspaper before publication as a paradigmatic prior restraint.
Subsequent punishment: A legal penalty imposed for expression after it has been communicated. It regulates speech after publication rather than blocking it in advance.
First Amendment to the United States Constitution: The constitutional amendment that bars the U.S. Congress from making laws abridging freedom of speech or of the press, among other freedoms. Its speech and press protections provide the principal U.S. constitutional basis for opposing government restraints in advance.
Film censorship: Government or institutional suppression of films, including restrictions imposed before public exhibition. Film licensing can require approval before screening, making it a recurring setting for prior-restraint disputes.
Pentagon Papers case: The 1971 U.S. legal dispute over whether the government could stop newspapers from publishing a classified history of the Vietnam War. The ruling reinforced the heavy presumption against blocking publication in advance.
New York Times Co. v. United States: A 1971 U.S. Supreme Court case rejecting the federal government's bid to block newspapers from publishing the Pentagon Papers. The decision applied a heavy presumption against prior restraint to an attempted national-security injunction.
Censorship: The suppression or control of expression by authorities or other powerful actors. Prior restraint is one form of censorship, distinguished by its timing before expression occurs.
William Blackstone: An English jurist whose Commentaries on the Laws of England shaped common-law legal thought. His account of press liberty emphasized freedom from prior licensing while accepting later punishment for unlawful publications.
Gag order: A court order limiting what participants or others may publicly disclose about a legal proceeding. A gag order can restrain speech before it is made, especially when imposed on the press or trial participants.
Collateral censorship: The suppression of speakers by intermediaries who restrict expression to avoid legal liability or penalties. Broad liability or uncertain orders can prompt publishers and platforms to suppress more speech than the government directly targets.

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