"The Pentagon Papers" (legal case)

"The Pentagon Papers" refer to a classified government report on U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a former military analyst, leaked these documents to The New York Times, revealing government deception about the war's progress and scope. The Nixon administration sought to prevent publication, leading to a legal battle. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in *New York Times Co. v. United States* that the government could not impose prior restraint on the press, affirming the First Amendment's protection of free speech and the press.