free press

free press (plural free presses)

1. Alternative form of freedom of the press
   • 1768, Samuel Adams, Boston Gazette — cited in: Emord, Jonathan W. (1991). Freedom, Technology, and the First Amendment. Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy. p. 61.

     There is nothing so fretting and vexatious, nothing so justly TERRIBLE to tyrants, and their tools and abettors, as a FREE PRESS.

   • 1943, Robert H. Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, Supreme Court of the United States, page 319 U.S. 624:

     One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.

   • 1971, Hugo L. Black, New York Times Company v. United States, Supreme Court of the United States, page 403 U.S. 713:

     In the First Amendment, the Founding Fathers gave the free press the protection is must have to fulfill its essential role in our democracy. The press was to serve the governed, not the governors. The Government's power to censor the press was abolished so that the press would remain forever free to censure the Government. The press was protected so that it could bare the secrets of government and inform the people.

• perfesser