This blog post continues the Hub & Spoke’s coverage of antitrust enforcement policy during the second Trump administration. For previous blogs and podcast, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
The States have always had the unilateral authority to prevent anticompetitive mergers and conduct. And, for the last decade, the states have played a significant role in filing their own antitrust lawsuits and/or joining the federal enforcers in their merger and conduct cases. However, the current administration has allegedly engaged in significant deal making, raising eyebrows in State Attorney General offices. Specifically, over the last year, there has been significant press concerning the DOJ’s various agreements with merging parties to drop pending investigations or litigation in lieu of a settlement. Various interested parties, including the States, have balked at the purported lack of antitrust enforcement or settlements, contending that they do not properly address the alleged anticompetitive harm.
The jumping off point was the DOJ’s settlement with Hewlett Packard Enterprises (“HPE”) and Juniper. In June 2025, the DOJ forewent litigation to block the HPE/Juniper merger, and instead entered into a settlement with the parties, allowing the transaction to move forward subject to a divestiture of a business line and a licensing mandate. In October 2025, a host of States sought intervention under the Tunney Act to “protect the public interest.” In their motion, the States, noting that two DOJ senior antitrust were fired for their opposition to the settlement, argued that the settlement terms were “facially inadequate” because the proposed structural remedy did not address harm alleged in the complaint.
Shortly thereafter, the States and DOJ disagreed over continuing to litigate a critical case in the live entertainment industry. In 2024, DOJ and 30 States sued Live Nation and its acquired subsidiary Ticketmaster claiming that they had engaged in various anticompetitive conduct designed to monopolize the market for markets related live entertainment. Importantly, that complaint sought to unscramble the egg—to unwind Ticketmaster from Live Nation. In March 2026, during an ongoing trial, Live Nation Entertainment settled with DOJ. That settlement included some limited structural relief, including divestiture of “13 exclusive booking agreements with amphitheaters nationwide.” The States fundamentally disagreed with that limited settlement and continued the trial, ultimately prevailing on liability before a jury. A separate hearing will be held to determine the scope of the injunctive relief, including whether Live Nation must divest Ticketmaster.
But the cases do not stop there. On March 19, 2026, the DOJ cleared a controversial merger between Tegna and Nexstar, two of the largest local tv broadcasting companies in the country whose combined share would cover “80% of TV households across key geographies.” Once again, various States disagreed with the federal government’s position and filed a lawsuit to block the merger. On April 17, the court granted the States’ and competitor DirecTV’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block the merger, holding that the plaintiffs demonstrated “a prima facie case that the merger creates a reasonable probability of anticompetitive effects,” in the relevant market for retransmission consent licenses to the four major television broadcasting networks. On April 30, the initial group of States were joined by additional states, including Indiana and Kansas.
The last year clearly demonstrates that the States are no longer going to take a backseat to the federal government, particular when federal enforcers are willing to enter into allegedly limited settlements or ignore questionable conduct. And while there has always been an additional layer of scrutiny applied by the States, it has become more pronounced in this political environment. As a result, it should be expected that the States will continue to investigate, and possibly file antitrust lawsuits, even when the federal government has blessed the conduct or settled the case.
