Rights & liberties
prior restraint
Government blocking expression before it happens, rather than punishing it afterward. It carries the heaviest presumption of unconstitutionality in First Amendment law.
In full
New York Times Co. v. United States (1971), the Pentagon Papers case, refused to enjoin publication even where the government claimed national security harm. Injunctions against publication, licensing schemes for speech, and gag orders are all analyzed as prior restraints, and they almost always fail.
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A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.