Court Opinion

ID: 9426184
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:17:03.229355+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:22:59.436852
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Douglas,
concurring.
The Court relies upon three factors — statutory authorization for regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a long history of actual SEC oversight and approval, and continued congressional affirmation of the SEC’s role — in holding that the system of fixed commission rates employed on the securities exchanges is immune from antitrust attack. While I join that opinion, I write separately to emphasize the single factor which, for me, is of prime importance.
The mere existence of a statutory power of review by the SEC over fixed commission rates cannot justify im*692munizing those rates from antitrust challenges. The antitrust laws are designed to safeguard a strong public interest in free and open competition, and immunity from those laws should properly be implied only when some equivalent mechanism is functioning to protect that public interest. Only if the SEC is actively and aggressively exercising its powers of review and approval can we be sure that fixed commission rates are being monitored in the manner which Congress intended. Cf. Hughes Tool Co. v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 409 U. S. 363, 387-389 (1973).
The Court reviews at length the history of the SEC’s involvement with fixed commission rates. In light of that history, I am satisfied to join the opinion of the Court and affirm the judgment below.