TOTM
Too Many Cooks Spoil the Settlement
Truth on the Market
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In American antitrust, clearing the federal gate increasingly means arriving at the state turnstiles.
State attorneys general play a valuable role when harms are local or federal investigators miss key facts. But serial challenges to nationally integrated conduct turn that safeguard into a standing invitation to relitigate.
The result is a system in which no settlement fully settles and no clearance fully clears. That weakens federal enforcement, rewards the most aggressive jurisdiction, and lets local politics reshape national markets.
State antitrust should supply evidence, police local misconduct, and check genuine federal failure. It should not operate as an endless appeals process with 51 possible vetoes.