Without DOJ Backing, States Pursue AmEx Antitrust Appeal

Eleven states are doing what the Justice Department declined to do — asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review an appeals court win for American Express Co. that allows it to continue telling merchants not to steer customers to cheaper credit cards.

But the DOJ’s decision not to appeal its antitrust loss, its first in more than a decade, could narrow the chances of the high court taking up the case because the federal government is no longer involved, antitrust practitioners told Bloomberg BNA.

“It is always bad to lose your partner in a fight, particularly when the partner is ...