Washington, D.C. – In response to Senator Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) introduction of the Antitrust Accountability and Transparency Act, a bill designed to restore judicial oversight of antitrust settlements and prevent executive branch overreach, the American Economic Liberties Project released the following statement.

“For too long, the Tunney Act has been treated as a suggestion rather than a mandate, allowing the executive branch to bypass meaningful oversight and engage in settlements that fail to protect the public,” said Phillip Berenbroick, Senior Strategist for Policy and Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project. “Congress intended to rein in corrupt merger settlements and process, not have the courts rubber-stamp them. This bill applies the Tunney Act to the Federal Trade Commission and ensures courts must independently review antitrust settlements to ensure the settlements remedy the antitrust harms, protecting competition and the public from political backroom deals.”

“The need for this legislation is urgent given the recent, highly suspicious behavior we are seeing in major antitrust cases,” added Lee Hepner, Senior Legal Counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. “From the Department of Justice’s attempt to let Live Nation-Ticketmaster off the hook mid-trial to the ongoing threat of consolidation in the tech sector, like the HPE-Juniper merger, the current system is failing. We need clear rules that prevent corporations from lobbying their way out of accountability through opaque consent decrees. This bill is a vital step toward restoring the rule of law in our markets.”

The Antitrust Procedures and Penalties Act of 1974, or the Tunney Act, was passed to bring the merger process into the full light of day. Previously, courts merely approved these merger settlements. The Tunney Act gave judges the power to demand hearings, call witnesses, and request documents to scrutinize the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) behavior. The goal was to assure that antitrust settlements served the public interest. However, over the last 20 years, courts have significantly weakened this mandate, deferring to executive branch theories of prosecutorial discretion that treat public interest reviews as a mere formality. This has created a legal culture that treats the Tunney Act as meaningless, allowing agencies to settle cases with remedies that do not cover the scope of the original harm.

Senator Klobuchar’s new bill addresses several critical flaws in current antitrust enforcement:

• It clarifies that once the DOJ invokes the jurisdiction of federal courts, the court has an independent duty to review the settlement, preventing the executive branch from claiming prosecutorial discretion to avoid scrutiny.
• The bill requires disclosure of White House involvement in antitrust settlement negotiations, ensuring that legal judgments are based on law rather than political influence.
• It subjects the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to the same Tunney Act requirements as the DOJ, ensuring administrative parity and preventing sycophantic surrender of agency independence.
• It requires merging firms to keep assets separate while Tunney Act review is pending, preventing companies from closing deals before a court can determine if the settlement actually protects competition.

The introduction of this bill follows a series of controversial DOJ actions. In March 2026, the DOJ negotiated a settlement with Live Nation-Ticketmaster just weeks after the ouster of Antitrust Chief Gail Slater. The settlement was reached without the knowledge of the lead litigator and was described by the presiding judge as showing “absolute disrespect” for the court and jury.

In the 2025 HPE-Juniper merger, top officials who fought for a stronger case were fired, while reports surfaced of “pay-to-play” lobbying where consultants were allegedly paid millions to bypass experts and deal directly with the White House. Because the companies were allowed to merge before a judge could even finish a real review, the public was left with a less competitive economy, while the details of these backroom deals remain hidden. Tunney Act proceedings in the HPE-Juniper case are ongoing, and several state attorneys general have intervened to represent the public interest.

Learn more about Economic Liberties’ Break Up Ticketmaster campaign here.

Read Economic Liberties’ Public Comment on U.S. v. HPE-Juniper here.

Read Economic Liberties Call For Congressional DOJ Investigation of Corruption Following Ouster of Antitrust Chief here.

Learn more about Economic Liberties here.

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The American Economic Liberties Project works to ensure America’s system of commerce is structured to advance, rather than undermine, economic liberty, fair commerce, and a secure, inclusive democracy. Economic Liberties believes true economic liberty means entrepreneurs and businesses large and small succeed on the merits of their ideas and hard work; commerce empowers consumers, workers, farmers, and engineers instead of subjecting them to discrimination and abuse from financiers and monopolists; international trade arrangements that promote balanced trade and benefit workers, farmers and small businesses; and wealth is broadly distributed to support equitable political power.