Baltimore Sun Co. v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that “Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom ... of the press.” The Supreme Court “has interpreted these guarantees to afford special protection against orders that prohibit the publication or broadcast of particular information or commentary — orders that impose a ‘previous’ or ‘prior’ restraint on speech.” Nebraska Press Ass’n v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539, 556 , 96 S.Ct. 2791, 2801 , 49 L.Ed.2d 683 (1976). Because “prior restraints on speech and publication are the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights,” id. at 559 , 96 S.Ct. at 2803 , any prior restraint bears a heavy presumption against its constitutional validity. Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe, 402 U.S. 415, 419 , 91 S.Ct. 1575, 1577-78 , 29 L.Ed.2d 1 (1971). Before a prior restraint can be deemed constitutional, a court must determine that the magnitude of the danger the restraint seeks to prevent, “discounted by its improbability, justifies such invasion of free speech as is necessary to avoid the danger.” United States v. Dennis, 183 F.2d 201, 212 (2d Cir.1950)(Hand, J.), aff'd, 341 U.S. 494 , 71 S.Ct. 857 , 95 L.Ed. 1137 (1951), quoted in Nebraska Press Ass’n, supra, 427 U.S. at 562 , 96 S.Ct. at 2804 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 154 Md. App. 543 - City of Frederick v. Randall Family, LLC