The following is not meant to be legal advice.
The Tunney Act was enacted in 1974 to ensure public interest in the entry of antitrust merger consent judgments. The act required that a court make this public-interest determination. Recent amendments to the act require that judges engage in an analysis, considering: (1) anticipated effects of alternative remedies considered; (2) competitive impact of the judgment and its provisions relating to the alleged violations; (3) impact of entry of judgment upon competition in the relevant market and the public.
A case involving SBC, AT & T, Verizon, MCI was the subject of Tunney Act proceedings. Post-close mergers such as that between AT & T and Verizon mergers can raise uncertainty issues for future merging parties and other interested parties. This problematic potentially could affect shareholders, customers, employees. The Tunney Act does not necessarily require that the judge conduct an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the consent judgment is in the public interest.
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