US: Judges named to hear DOJ’s AT&T Time Warner deal appeal

A panel of three federal appeals court judges named by former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama will hear the Justice Department’s appeal of a ruling allowing AT&T Inc to acquire Time Warner, court records show.

Judges Judith W. Rogers, Robert L. Wilkins and David B. Sentelle will hear arguments on December 6th.

The government argues that AT&T’s $85.4 billion acquisition will lead to higher prices for consumers and was illegal under antitrust law, while AT&T says the government offered no basis for second guessing key conclusions of a lower-court ruling allowing the transaction to proceed.

Sentelle, a Reagan appointee, and Rogers, who was named to the bench by Clinton, were among seven appeals court judges in June 2001 that issued an opinion tossing out an order that Microsoft Corp should be broken up but found that the company possessed monopoly power and agreed that the company had behaved anticompetively.

The company ultimately agreed to a settlement with the Justice Department and an agreement to end retaliation against computer makers who use non-Microsoft software.