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qid 1673 · law

Question: Several states have enacted laws shielding reporters from being compelled to release the names of confidential sources. Now, Congress, under intense lobbying pressure from the press, proposes to enact legislation forbidding any state from requiring journalists to reveal the sources of their news articles in civil suits. Which of the following is the strongest constitutional argument in support of this proposed law?

  1. Congress has the authority under the commerce clause to regulate the flow of news.
  2. Acts of Congress are the supreme law of the land and take precedence over any conflicting state laws.
  3. Congress is essentially reaffirming the free speech guarantees of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
  4. Under Article I, Section 8, Congress has the authority to secure to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.

Our answer: A. Congress has the authority under the commerce clause to regulate the flow of news. Source quote machine-checked (exact quote)

A machine check confirms the quoted words appear at the source. A person has not yet reviewed these. EARN MARKS as a Human Reviewer

How it was answered

Stored method, replayed by code (kind: formula)

card: formula · card sha256 7204e80701775ba6…

Current source

Associated Press v. NLRB, 301 U.S. 103 (1937) (Cornell LII)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/301/103

“The Associated Press is engaged in interstate commerce within the definition of the statute and the meaning of article 1, section 8, of the Constitution.”

Source quote machine-checked (exact quote)

retrieved 2026-09-17T23:56:30.596Z

page text sha256 6c8179ed48db8771… · content sha256 288df7f16eb0292c…

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Earlier version (superseded)

No public source has been found for this card yet (3 places checked internally).

addendum formula_qid1673.formula_ADDENDUM_source · sha256 974b15dbaf96e950…

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