For prior restraint to apply, the government must prove that the speech is clear and an identifiable danger.
The term ''prior restraint'' connotes 'an early limit or a given restriction', which implies the necessary adjustment to a particular speech or expression needed for its presentation.
Further Explanation
The prior restraint is, therefore, defined as an expurgated review and restriction of a speech, art, writing, expressions and media by the government or authority, just before it is being presented to the public. This prior restraint created some forms of inconveniences. why?
Because, the use of the prior restraint assumes a position of threat; to the community,to the citizens, to the national security of the country.
In the US, the history of portrait restraint is seen as a form of oppression or a cruel exercise of power, especially to the founding fathers when they were under the British rule. The founding father used languages in the first amendment of the US.Constitution like: ''freedom of speech'' and ''freedom of the press''.Those were words that were against the democratic principle as felt by the Great Britain, dating back to the era where the United states of America got ruled by the British.
Another example is the New York times and Washington post of 1975, where the US. government made all effort to prevent the publishing of Pentagon Papers that showed how the government handled the Vietnam war. it is clear here that the government identified an imminent danger to the united states if it was released.
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KEYWORDS:
- prior restraint
- US constitution
- British Rule
- newyork times