By David Balto
Publication Date: 2025-11-19 09:30:00
Congress approved the Tunney Law almost 50 years ago to bring greater accountability to the antitrust resolution process. Their goal was to assure the public that the big corporate deals blessed by the Justice Department would benefit consumers and not be determined by secret agreements.
However, in recent months, a small group of attorneys general and state legislators have tried to expand interpretation of the statute, pushing the courts to relitigate a simple case (46), namely the merger of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and Juniper Networks Inc., which has already been resolved.
This undermines the Justice Department’s ability to resolve cases and could turn the Tunney Act into something it was never intended to be: a vehicle for activism, threatening not only the efficiency of antitrust enforcement but also the independence of the judiciary itself.
For decades, courts have understood their limited role under the Tunney Act. They will be able to examine whether Justice…