The Saturday Press

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The Saturday Press was the name of at least two periodicals. One was run by Jay Near, an anti-Jew, anti-labor, anti-Communist small-time editor. It was published in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Floyd B. Olsen, future governor of Minneapolis, brought suit against Jay M. Near and his partner Howard A. Guilford because their newspaper had an overly ant-Semitic tone, which Olsen claimed was a violation of the Public Nuisance Law, also known as the Minnesota Gag Law, of 1925. The scandal sheet published countless exposes until it was shut down by the Minnesota Gag Law of 1925. In 1931, the historic U.S. Supreme Court Case, Near v. Minnesota, struck the statute as unconstitutional. Prior restraint laws have never fared well in courts since, including the case of the Pentagon Papers.

Text of Near v. Minnesota, courtesy of Findlaw.

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The Saturday Press was also the name of a literary newspaper edited by Henry Clapp, Jr. from 1858–1860 and again from 1865–1866. Clapp, nicknamed the "King of Bohemia" and credited with importing the term "bohemianism" to the U.S, was a central part of the antebellum New York literary and art scene. Today he is perhaps best known for his spotlighting of Walt Whitman in The Saturday Press. He intended the Press to be New York's answer to the Atlantic Monthly. The Press was constantly troubled by financial problems, and Clapp died in poverty and obscurity.