> Seems to me that this whole question was settled years ago when the > US Supreme ruled that a newspaper couldn't be stopped from publishing > instructions for making a nuclear bomb. Can't remember the exact case, > but it was around the time of the Pentagon Papers case. Not quite. It didn't make it to the Supreme Court. In early 1979, the United States government sought to prevent The Progressive from publishing free-lance writer Howard Morland's article, "The H-Bomb Secret: How We Got It -- Why We're Telling It." (It was eventually published, in the November 1979 edition.) The Progressive was enjoined for ~6 months by a federal court order penned by Judge Robert W. Warren (Eastern District of Wisconsin). Judge Warren commented that this was "the first instance of prior restraint against a publication in this fashion in the history of this country." (467 F. Supp. at 996.) Judge Warren claimed he made his decision based on sworn affidavits by people such as the Secretary of State, Sec. of Defense, and Sec. of Energy claiming that publication of the article would (of course) endanger national security. A nice quote from Warren: "I want to think a long hard time before I'd give a hydrogen bomb to Idi Amin." The matter was appealed to the 7th Circuit, but the government dropped its case before the court issued a ruling.
