The Newspaper Guild v. Edward H. Levi, Attorney General

The issue in this case is whether section 4(b) of the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 creates a substantive rule of law requiring all joint newspaper agreements entered into after 1970 to obtain prior approval of the Attorney General. The majority opinion holds instead that the Act requires approval only for those newspapers that wish to take advantage of an antitrust exemption. While I agree that Congress might have been wiser to select this method of optional approval, the statute and my reading of the legislative history convince me that this is not the choice Congress actually made.

The…