American law passed in 1974 that requires the government to explain why a merger settlement serves the public interest and mandates that companies disclose all contact with the executive branch relating to the settlement.
The act was a response to the rank corruption of Richard Nixon's administration. In 1969 Richard McLaren was appointed as head of antitrust for the Department of Justice and launched three investigations into International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), a corporate giant of its day. All three were quietly resolved with favourable settlements two years later. Eventually it emerged that Nixon had called Richard Kleindienst, his deputy attorney-general, after ITT pledged to give $400,000 (worth $3.2m in 2026 dollars) to fund the Republican National Convention. "I want something clearly understood," the president said. "The ITT thing—stay the hell out of it. Is that clear? That's an order." Nixon's call was made public in 1974 as part of the Watergate tapes, shortly before the president resigned. The Tunney Act was signed later that year by his successor, Gerald Ford.
Since then plenty of settlements have been scrutinised using the act, but none rejected. In 2026 state attorneys-general invoked the Tunney Act to challenge the DoJ's settlement of the HPE-Juniper merger, alleging that MAGA-connected lobbyists had negotiated the deal on the company's behalf, bypassing the antitrust division.
What makes us so bitter against people who outwit us is that they think themselves cleverer than we are.