## Facts

- The United States sued The Progressive, Inc., its editor and managing editor, and author Howard Morland to prevent publication of an article describing thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb design and operation.
- Morland asserted the article’s key design information was assembled from unclassified, publicly available sources; the government alleged it contained “Restricted Data” governed by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954.
- The government sought injunctive relief under the Atomic Energy Act and federal jurisdiction statutes to stop dissemination of the alleged Restricted Data.
- The court issued a temporary restraining order barring publication or disclosure of restricted data contained in the article.
- At the preliminary injunction stage, the court held hearings that included public proceedings and in camera sessions limited to cleared counsel.
- The court reviewed classified submissions and expert testimony asserting the article’s synthesis could materially aid other nations’ thermonuclear weapons development and threaten national security.
- While the injunction was on appeal, similar information appeared in other publications; the government moved to dismiss as moot, and the article was later published.

## Issues

1. Whether the First Amendment permits a prior restraint enjoining publication of an article when the government claims the content includes Atomic Energy Act “Restricted Data” whose disclosure could cause immediate, direct, and irreparable harm to national security.
2. Whether the Atomic Energy Act’s “born secret” treatment of certain nuclear-weapons information can reach a private author’s synthesis of publicly available sources, allowing injunction against publication.

## Decision

- The district court granted a preliminary injunction continuing the restraint on publication of the alleged restricted data.
- The court found the government showed a likelihood of success in proving the article contained “Restricted Data” covered by the Atomic Energy Act and that Congress authorized injunctive relief to prevent its dissemination.
- The court found publication risked immediate, direct, and irreparable harm to national security, crediting expert evidence that the article’s technical synthesis could significantly aid thermonuclear weapons development by other nations.
- Although recognizing the strong presumption against prior restraints, the court held the case presented extraordinary circumstances in which the asserted national-security risk outweighed First Amendment interests at the preliminary injunction stage.
- The preliminary injunction was not reviewed on the merits by an appellate court because the case was later dismissed as moot.

## Legal Principles

- Prior restraints on publication carry a heavy constitutional presumption against validity, but a court may grant preliminary injunctive relief when the government shows both likely legal entitlement and imminent irreparable harm of unusual magnitude.
- The Atomic Energy Act’s statutory scheme for “Restricted Data” may support injunctive relief to prevent dissemination of covered nuclear-weapons-related information.
- Information may be treated as protected “Restricted Data” even when derived from public sources if the resulting synthesis constitutes technical details within the Act’s coverage and its disclosure poses immediate and severe national-security harm.
- In assessing a preliminary injunction against publication, courts balance likelihood of success, irreparable harm, the public interest, and comparative harms, with particular attention to the asserted consequences of erroneous disclosure.

## Conclusion

The court preliminarily enjoined The Progressive from publishing alleged thermonuclear design information, holding that the Atomic Energy Act and a showing of immediate, irreparable national-security harm could, in an extraordinary case, justify a prior restraint at the preliminary injunction stage, though the controversy ended as moot without appellate resolution.


United States v. The Progressive, Inc., 467 F. Supp. 990 (W.D. Wis. 1979)