3 hours ago - Business

Trump's antitrust regime heads to court

Dan Primack

Illustration of a gavel that has been tied into a knot. — Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

A federal judge in Silicon Valley on Monday will hear arguments on if the U.S. Justice Department improperly approved an antitrust settlement that allowed Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE: HPE) to acquire Juniper Networks last summer for $14 billion.

Why it matters: This case is at the heart of allegations that corporate lobbyists have gone around DOJ antitrust staff to get desired outcomes on pending mergers.

Catch up quick: The WSJ recently reported that the HPE-Juniper settlement, which didn't address the antitrust unit's main competition concerns, was largely drafted by HPE attorneys and foisted on DOJ antitrust staff by senior department leadership.

The story, which also discusses Live Nation and firings of DOJ antitrust staff, it is worthy of your time.

The bottom line: It would be unprecedented for a judge to reject a merger settlement by using the Watergate-era Tunney Act, which is the statute under which 11 state attorneys general (plus D.C.) filed suit.

Then again, there's also no precedent for top DOJ antitrust staff being regularly overruled.

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Trump's antitrust regime heads to court

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