Espionage Act

The Pentagon Papers Case: How the U.S. Government Tried—and Failed—to Silence the Press

Jul 18, 2025

In the summer of 1971, the United States Supreme Court delivered a landmark ruling that would forever reshape the relationship between the press and the federal government. The case, New York Times Co. v. United States, better known as the Pentagon Papers case, tested the limits of the First Amendment and government power. At the…
How One Of The Most Controversial Espionage Trials In U.S. History Still Reverberates Through National Security And Due Process Law

Jul 9, 2025

In the annals of American jurisprudence, few cases have generated the enduring controversy, political intrigue, and constitutional debate as the 1951 espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Convicted of conspiring to pass atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, the Rosenbergs became the first—and only—American civilians executed for espionage during peacetime in U.S. history. Decades…
Jack Smith Rebuts Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Defense, Insists Ex-President Mishandled Sensitive Documents

Jun 25, 2024

Special Counsel Jack Smith has filed a comprehensive rebuttal to former President Donald Trump’s claims that his Espionage Act prosecution should be dismissed due to alleged mishandling of classified documents by federal investigators. The 33-page response counters Trump’s argument that the documents were not preserved in their original order during the Mar-a-Lago search. Smith’s response…

The Pentagon Papers Case: How the U.S. Government Tried—and Failed—to Silence the Press