Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/17pdf/16-1454_5h26.pdf
Page Number: 25

Cite as:  585 U. S. ____ (2018) 

1 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 16–1454 
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OHIO, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. AMERICAN EXPRESS 
COMPANY, ET AL. 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT 

[June 25, 2018] 

JUSTICE  BREYER,  with  whom  JUSTICE  GINSBURG, 
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, and JUSTICE KAGAN join, dissenting. 
For  more  than  120  years,  the  American  economy  has
prospered by charting a middle path between pure lassez-
faire  and  state  capitalism,  governed  by  an  antitrust  law 
“dedicated  to  the  principle  that  markets,  not  individual 
firms  and  certainly  not  political  power,  produce  the  opti­
mal  mixture  of  goods  and  services.”    1  P.  Areeda  &  H. 
Hovenkamp,  Antitrust  Law  ¶100b,  p. 4  (4th  ed.  2013) 
(Areeda  &  Hovenkamp).    By  means  of  a  strong  antitrust 
law,  the  United  States  has  sought  to  avoid  the  danger  of 
monopoly  capitalism.  Long  gone,  we  hope,  are  the  days
when  the  great  trusts  presided  unfettered  by  competition 
over the American economy.

This  lawsuit  is  emblematic  of  the  American  approach.
Many  governments  around  the  world  have  responded  to
concerns  about  the  high  fees  that  credit-card  companies
often  charge  merchants  by  regulating  such  fees  directly.
See  GAO,  Credit  and  Debit  Cards:  Federal  Entities  Are 
Taking  Actions  to  Limit  Their  Interchange  Fees,  but 
Additional  Revenue  Collection  Cost  Savings  May  Exist 
31–35  (GAO–08–558,  2008).  The  United  States  has  not 
followed  that  approach.  The  Government  instead  filed 
this  lawsuit,  which  seeks  to  restore  market  competition 
over  credit-card  merchant  fees  by  eliminating  a  contract­