Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Montana filed a motion for leave to file a bill of complaint directly with the Supreme Court, invoking the Court's original jurisdiction over disputes between states, against California and ten other states — Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington — that have sued to block Paramount Skydance's proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Iowa and Montana argue the merger would create a stronger competitor to Netflix and that the blue states' antitrust suit is a politicized effort rather than genuine enforcement; the defendant states describe their suit as standard antitrust review. The Supreme Court has ordered the defendant states to respond by September 25, but has not indicated whether it will actually hear the Iowa-Montana complaint. Iowa and Montana had separately asked the Court to expedite the matter, seeking a response by September 15 and consideration at its October 9 conference, requests the Court did not grant. The underlying antitrust suit brought by the blue states against the merger is currently scheduled for trial in March 2027.
Global Antitrust and Big Tech 12 Sept 2026
Supreme Court Orders Blue-State AGs to Respond to Iowa and Montana's Challenge Over the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery Merger Block
The Supreme Court ordered California and ten other states to respond by September 25 to an original-jurisdiction complaint filed by Iowa and Montana, which argues the states' antitrust suit blocking Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is a politicized effort rather than genuine antitrust enforcement.
Source: AV Club, September 9, 2026
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