In his latest Justia blog post, Illinois Law Dean Vikram David Amar and U.C. Davis Law professor Alan Brownstein discuss the constitutional issues that are at the crux of the story told in the movie The Post. 

The movie tells the true story of the efforts of the journalists and leaders of the Washington Post and the New York Times to publish classified documents known as the Pentagon Papers, detailing non-public information about America’s controversial involvement in the Vietnam War. Although an injunction prevented the Times from further publishing the documents, the Post made the controversial decision to continue publishing them. The case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, where they ultimately ruled in favor of the newspapers over the U.S. government. 

Amar and Brownstein write:

"The Post is a fine movie. But viewers are left unclear about exactly what legal issues the Court resolved in this dispute. Did the justices hold that newspapers can never be prohibited from, or punished for, publishing classified information? If so, why not? Further, what happens if a newspaper violates an injunction prohibiting the publication of a news story and that injunction is ultimately held to be unconstitutional? Would such a finding of unconstitutionality insulate a newspaper’s publisher and editor from being found in contempt of court and punished for their actions? With this background in mind, we are now in position to explain the key legal doctrines/principles that underlie much of the movie’s action."

Read the full post at verdict.justia.com.