The New York Times: Checks And Balance System

In 1971, The New York Times gained copies of the Pentagon Papers, which contained government information on the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The New York Times wanted to publish these papers in their newspaper, but the United States district court in New York followed a request that was issued by the government and told the New York Times to legally put a hold on publishing the papers. The court put a hold on publishing the papers because they thought if the papers were published, it would put the citizens of the United States in harm's way. The New York Times appealed the court's decision and took their case to the Supreme Court. They argued that the New York state court could not put the papers on hold from being published due to the First Amendment which allows freedom of the press. In this case, the checks and balance system was used correctly because one branch exerted too much power for their branch, and then it was reversed the decision made by one branch. They

The extent of the first amendment was called to question in this case because the executive branch said that the New York Times was abusing their freedom of the press. Then, the executive branch over used their powers and required the New York Times to put a hold on the publication of the Pentagon Papers. According to an article about the case on Infoplease, the state of New York said that “The 1st Amendment does not guarantee an absolute freedom of the press, especially when the nation's security is involved”(Infoplease). The checks and balances system was used in this court case by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court eventually reversed the State Court’s decision and said that the freedom of the press is absolute and that the publication of the papers would not be a threat to the Nation. They can decide this by doing a strict scrutiny