Freedom of the Press/Legal Codification/US implicit
Has it been interpreted as being implicit in the US Constitution?
The right is explicitly stated in the Constitution, though challenges and questions towards it have arisen throughout the United States’ legal history. One of the first such challenges were the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798, which came about out of an increasing aversion towards disloyalty brought about by fears of France’s potential invasion of the United States (Batten, 2010). Signed by John Adams, the acts allowed for the deportation of immigrants originating from a country that the United States was currently at war with, and, crucially, gave the government the ability to punish those who “…shall write, print, utter or publish…any false, scandalous and malicious writing or writings against the government of the United States…” (Congress, 1845). According to Douglas Bradburn, “The clamor against the Alien and Sedition Acts was broad, important, and deeply consequential”, with Thomas Jefferson leading the backlash (Bradburn, 2008, pg. 567). The political and public reaction to curtailments of the first amendment, including the right to freedom of the press were strongly antagonistic from the beginning.
The 1964 Supreme Court decision in New York Times v. Sullivan further shows the commitment towards this right. The New York Times published an advertisement containing false information about actions taken by opposers of civil rights which included Alabama police, which the Montgomery, Alabama city commissioner, L.B. Sullivan, then responded by filing suit, claiming that the advertisement harmed his reputation and was libelous (Wermiel, n.d.).
Later in 1971 the Supreme Court decided on New York Times Co. V. United States, again in favor of the publication. Sensitive documents about the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, named the “Pentagon Papers”, were shared with the publication and the New York Times published it to which the government responded by filing suit, under the justification of prior restraint, a rule that allows the government the ability to review the publication of material and prevent its publication under their discretion (Robertson, n.d.). The Court decided that regardless of the sensitive nature of the documents, the right to free expression and freedom of the press trumped the harm that could be had from the publication of the documents (Ibid.).
Bradburn, D. (2008). A Clamor in the Public Mind: Opposition to the Alien and Sedition Acts. The William and Mary Quarterly, 65(3), 565–600.
Congress, U. S. (1845). Public Acts of the Fifth Congress, Second Session, Chapter 74. In
New York Times v. Sullivan (1964). (n.d.). LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved July 7, 2021, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/new_york_times_v_sullivan_(1964)
Robertson, S. (n.d.). New York Times Co. V. United States. Retrieved July 9, 2021, from https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/505/new-york-times-co-v-united-states
Wermiel, S. (n.d.-b). New York Times Co. V. Sullivan. Retrieved July 9, 2021, from https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/186/new-york-times-co-v-sullivan