ACLU Comment on Trump Legal Threat to Block Bolton Memoir Publication

WASHINGTON — President Trump today indicated his administration would sue to block the publication of John Bolton’s memoir. Below is comment from Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, in response:

“Any attempt by the Trump administration to block the publication of John Bolton’s memoir is doomed to fail. A half-century ago the Supreme Court rejected a similar attempt by the Nixon administration to block the publication of the Pentagon Papers, and since then it has been firmly established that prior restraints on publication are unconstitutional and un-American. As usual, the government’s threats have nothing to do with safeguarding national security, and everything to do with avoiding scandal and embarrassment.”