preview

Near V. Minnesota Case Study

Decent Essays

One of the most renowned court cases involving using a prior restraint on a publication was Near v. Minnesota (1931). After the The Saturday Press, a newspaper owned by J.M Near, wrote an article claiming that his city was being secretly ruled by Jewish gangs and directly targeted several public figures. An injunction was ordered by Minnesota officials to prevent Near from publishing his story under a state law that permitted such action. The Supreme Court ruled that the state’s law that prohibited and denied Near’s newspaper to publish the story violated the First Amendment. Thus the Court established that the government could not censor or restrain any publication in advance, even though the communication may be punishable after its release

Get Access