On Friday, March 19, 1971, reporter Neil Sheehan of the New York Times received copies of a top secret Defense Department study that outlined the history of United States involvement in Vietnam. The Vietnam War was then in full swing, with no end to the conflict in sight. Sheehan received the documents, which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers, from Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department analyst who had opposed the war. Publication of stories based on the Pentagon papers would soon set in motion one of the most famous First Amendment cases ever to come before the U.S. Supreme Court. On June 30, 1971, just 17 days after the Times first published articles based on the classified study, the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling. This book traces the arguments before the Supreme Court and explores the rationale for the Court's ruling. By its decision, the Court dissolved the stays that had prevented the papers from continuing their series. Although the decision indicated the Court favored a heavy presumption for freedom of the press, it also indicated that under certain circumstances in which published information clearly might endanger lives in time of war, newspapers could be restrained. Chapter notes, a timeline of relevant events, and 42 references