United States v. Progressive, Inc. (1979).
official-recordlegal_caseGovernment Concealment & Secrecy Architecture
First prior-restraint injunction on publication in US history: DOE/DOJ enjoined The Progressive from printing Howard Morland's H-bomb article as 'Secret Restricted Data' — the government argued even public-domain data becomes born-secret RD when 'synthesized and collated'.
The court test of the born-secret doctrine's reach. Dismissed as moot Nov 1979 after the info appeared elsewhere -> no appellate precedent, so born-secret prior restraint was never appellate-blessed. Shows the tool is potent at trial level but constitutionally fragile. Documented case.