will take a deeper look at what this lawsuit and potential merger would do to food prices – particularly on the cusp of the November election. Part 2 ofEarlier this year, the FTC sued to block the $24.6 billion merger, arguing it would create less competition between brands and would lead to reduced product quality, more store closures, and higher prices.
“I’m not surprised about this at all,” Case Western Reserve University School of Law professor Anat Alon-Beck told thecase “takes a lot of power from the regulators and the administrative state,” and comes at a time when more and more pro-business litigants are taking a sharper aim against regulations.
In some ways, Kroger’s lawsuit against the FTC acts as a failsafe to protect its merger plans in the event that the merger ultimately is struck down by the agency. Alon-Beck said the upshot of more rulings against agency procedures could mean that they will need to “revamp their guidelines on antitrust.”