Key Highlights
- But the two sides differ on the scope of the Tunney Act, a 1974 law requiring court approval of DOJ antitrust settlements.
- In Wednesday’s order, Pitts wrote that the the states are entitled to at least some of the pretrial information sharing that occurred after the Justice Department sued HPE in January to block its purchase of Juniper — the first antitrust case brought by the new Trump administration.
- “That record is undoubtedly relevant because it will help the states evaluate the risks to competition posed by the proposed merger, the degree to which the proposed judgment addresses those risks and the strength of the United States’s underlying case,” he wrote.
- Pitts directed both sides to submit more briefing and said that if he concludes an evidence hearing is necessary to determine whether the settlement passes muster under the Tunney Act, it will be held March 23-27.
- The states have been far apart from the DOJ and the companies on what that hearing would entail.
