Although the "Times" eventually won the case before the Supreme Court, prior to that, an appellate court ordered that the "Times" temporarily halt further publication. This was the first time the federal government was able to restrain the publication of a major newspaper since the presidency of Abraham Lincoln during the U.S. Civil War. Ellsberg released the Pentagon Papers to seventeen other newspapers in rapid succession. The right of the press to publish the papers was upheld in "New York Times Co. v. United States". The Supreme Court ruling has been called one of the "modern pillars" of First Amendment rights with respect to freedom of the press.