SUTHERLAND, J.:
I.
THE FACTS
The case of Grosjean v. American Press Co., Inc., 297
U.S. 233, February 10, 1936, involved a Louisiana law that imposed
on publishing companies a license tax of 2% of the gross receipts for the
privilege of engaging in advertising in newspapers, magazines or periodicals if
their circulation is more than 20,000 copies per week. Nine Louisiana-based publishers of newspapers, with circulations
of more than 20,000 copies per week each, filed
a suit to enjoin the enforcement against them of the said provision. They
assailed the validity of the act on the ground, inter alia, that it
abridges the freedom of the press in contravention of the due process clause
contained in the Fourteenth Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution.
