State Constitutions and the Press: Historical Context and Resurgence of a Libertarian Tradition

The first section of this essay is a textual analysis of 18th century state press clauses. Section 2 is a speculative discussion of the contemporary significance of these first state constitutional attempts to protect press freedom in the new republic, the United States. Section 3 briefly examines the legal doctrines and conceptual frameworks developed and shaped over the past 200 years, which have led to increased reliance recently by state courts on state constitutional press clauses. In section 4, specific issues of press freedom affected by these modern state court decisions are discussed, with examples. This analysis reveals the relevance of continued historical and neoteric research on state constitutions and state press provisions, and how we, perhaps, have not lost our early libertarian roots.