Bronster

Margery S. Bronster, in her official capacity as Attorney General of Hawaii, appeals from the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Hawaii Newspaper Agency, Gannett Pacific Corp. (Honolulu Advertiser), and Liberty Newspapers (Honolulu Star-Bulletin). Attorney General Bronster contends that the district court erred in concluding that the Newspaper Preservation Act *744 preempted Hawaii’s Act 243, that the plaintiffs presented a ripe First Amendment claim, and that Act 243 violated the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, as well as the Equal Protection Clause. We affirm because we conclude that the Newspaper Preservation Act preempted the field of the regulation of joint operating agreements between newspapers.

I.

In 1962, the Honolulu Advertiser was experiencing financial difficulty and was on the verge of failure. In order to prevent the newspaper’s demise and preserve its editorial voice, the Advertiser entered into a joint operating agreement (“JOA”) with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on May 31, 1962. Under the JOA, the newspapers merged their commercial, circulation, and advertising departments, but maintained separate and independent editorial voices.…