5. The New York Times published a story on the Pentagon Papers
On June 13, 1971 – a Sunday – The New York Times published the first of what would eventually become nine stories on the Pentagon Papers. The stories, which ran on the front page, contained excerpts directly from the purloined documents as well as editorial comments. The Times internally discussed the legality of publishing what was at the time Top Secret documents and in the face of conflicting legal advice decided to go ahead and print the story. The following day the Nixon Administration went to court to block further publication. Nixon personally was at first inclined to ignore the papers, since they were most detrimental to the preceding administrations of Johnson and Kennedy, but close aides argued it established a dangerous precedent.
With the publication by the Times temporarily blocked, the Washington Post began publishing the papers on June 18, using copies Ellsberg had given to one of their own reporters. When the Nixon Administration attempted to obtain an injunction against the Post, as it had with the Times, it lost. The decision was appealed, and on June 26 the US Supreme Court announced that it would hear both cases jointly. Meanwhile, more than a dozen other newspapers began printing the Pentagon Papers and offering commentary on their contents. On June 30 the Supreme Court allowed the newspapers to publish the documents by a 6-3 vote, and in an unusual step, all nine justices wrote opinions on the case.