•HRES 904 IH 
erature published in the colonies, which demonstrate the 
importance of a free press; 
Whereas Thomas Jefferson said, ‘‘Were it left to me to de-
cide whether we should have a government without news-
papers, or newspapers without a government, I should 
not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter,’’ and ‘‘Our 
liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that 
cannot be limited without being lost’’; 
Whereas a free press, the Founding Fathers believed, was an 
essential check against despotism, and integral to advanc-
ing human understanding of the sciences, arts, and hu-
manities; 
Whereas in an amendment offered in Congress by James 
Madison, he stated, ‘‘The people shall not be deprived or 
abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish 
their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of 
the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable;’’; 
Whereas James Madison articulated the view that, ‘‘The se-
curity of the freedom of the press requires that it should 
be exempt, not only from previous restraint of the execu-
tive, as in Great Britain; but from legislative restraint 
also; and this exemption, not only from the previous in-
spection of licensers, but from the subsequent penalty of 
laws;’’; 
Whereas penned by Madison and Jefferson, The Virginia 
Resolution of 1798 (a document which presupposes that 
states have the right to decide the constitutionality of 
laws passed by Congress) stated that, ‘‘The Liberty of 
conscience and of the press cannot be cancelled, abridged, 
restrained, or modified by any authority of the United 
States;’’; 
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•HRES 904 IH 
Whereas during the debates between the Federalist and the 
Ant-Federalists over the Bill of Rights, the press played 
a vital role in helping bring public awareness by publicly 
publishing the debates; 
Whereas the Framers of the Constitution recognized the im-
portance of a free press by enshrining it in the first 
amendment, ‘‘Congress shall make no law . . . abridging 
the freedom of speech, or of the press;’’; 
Whereas Walter Lippman, the 20th Century columnist, 
wrote, ‘‘A free press is not a privilege, but an organic ne-
cessity in a great society;’’; 
Whereas President Herbert Hoover said ‘‘Absolute freedom 
of the press to discuss public questions is a foundation 
stone of American liberty;’’; 
Whereas President Harry S. Truman stated ‘‘We need not 
fear the expression of ideas—we do need to fear their 
suppression;’’; 
Whereas the Pentagon Papers led to the uncovering of illegal 
activity under the Nixon administration; 
Whereas, after failing to get The New York Times to volun-
tarily stop publishing the Pentagon Papers in 1971, At-
torney General John Mitchell and President Nixon re-
quested and obtained a Federal court injunction that the 
Times cease the publication of excerpts; 
Whereas the Assistant Attorney General in 1971, William 
Rehnquist, asked the Washington Post to stop publishing 
the documents relating to the Pentagon Papers, and 
when the Post refused, the Department of Justice sought 
another injunction; 
Whereas the Supreme Court ruled in New York Times vs. 
U.S., the 1971 Pentagon Papers case, that ‘‘any use of 
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•HRES 904 IH 
the judiciary to order constraint makes a shambles out 
of the First Amendment;’’; 
Whereas Washington Post journalists Carl Bernstein and 
Bob Woodward’s investigations in the Watergate burglary 
helped to uncover the corruption under the Nixon Admin-
istration, which resulted in the President’s resignation in 
1974; 
Whereas the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa exposed the ar-
rangement between the Reagan Administration and the 
weapons-for-hostages deal in 1986, which resulted in Oli-
ver North and John Poindexter being indicted on mul-
tiple charges on March 16, 1988; 
Whereas the majority of the Congress learned of a 
warrantless NSA wiretapping program, directed by the 
Bush Administration, through the investigative reporting 
of The New York Times; 
Whereas the Bush Administration requested that the Wash-
ington Post not publish their Pulitzer Prize winning story 
on the secret black prisons in Eastern Europe; 
Whereas the torture conducted by American soldiers at Abu 
Ghraib was only publicly addressed by the Bush Adminis-
tration following its published disclosure by Pulitzer 
Prize winner Seymour Hersh; 
Whereas a report on the conditions in Guantanamo Bay ‘‘of-
fended’’ the Vice President and was labeled ‘‘absurd’’ by 
the President; 
Whereas the Washington Post helped uncover the Republican 
‘‘culture of corruption’’, exposed the illegal acts of Jack 
Abramoff, resulting in his guilty plea, and led to the con-
viction of David Safavian; and 
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