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prior restraint
noun
: governmental prohibition imposed on expression before the expression actually takes place
Examples of prior restraint in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The president and provost were named and sued for damages in their personal capacity due to both parties showing their involvement in prior restraint with the protest, McGivern said.
—Lily Kepner, Austin American-Statesman, 29 Aug. 2024
That lawsuit amounts to a request for a blatantly unconstitutional prior restraint.
—Seth Stern, Orange County Register, 13 Feb. 2024
Enlarge Justin Sullivan / Staff | Getty Images North America
On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to review an appeal from X (formerly Twitter), alleging that the US government's censorship of X transparency reports served as a prior restraint on the platform's speech and was unconstitutional.
—Ashley Belanger, Ars Technica, 8 Jan. 2024
The Commission required that Mr. Musk subject himself to an unconstitutional prior restraint: preapproval of his material public communications about Tesla by a Tesla securities lawyer.
—Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, 3 Nov. 2023
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Word History
First Known Use
1833, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near prior restraint
Cite this Entry
“Prior restraint.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prior%20restraint. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
Legal Definition
prior restraint
noun
: governmental prohibition on expression (especially by publication) before the expression actually takes place see also Near v. Minnesota and New York Times Co. v. United States compare censorship, freedom of speech
Note: In New York Times Co. v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court restated its position that “any system of prior restraints” bears “a heavy presumption against constitutional validity” and that the government “carries a heavy burden of showing justification for the imposition of such a restraint.”
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