Prior Restraint In The Early 20th Century

249 Words1 Pages
Prior Restraint in the early 20th century was certainly different than it is today. In today’s publications legal action against free speech is of the post facto type, which means a message can be sent or delivered before the government can initiate an action against it. Prior restraint illustrates the principle of gatekeeping “like a gate on a channel, the intermediary gatekeeper allows some messages to get through and bar others” (238). In 1925 Minnesota legislature made an approval of a prior restraint law and it stated “obscene, lewd and lascivious or malicious, scandalous and defamatory publication was guilty of a nuisance and could be stopped by court order from further publication or distribution” (238). By doing this the law was tested