“The United States is not Europe,” says a former Federal Trade Commission member, who is now a senior adviser at the American Economic Liberties Project, in connection with the $111-Billion Dollars Deal Between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery

***

According to a recent article in The Los Angeles Times of July 22, 2026, “Europe joins 64 other regulatory entities that have either approved the deal or chosen not to challenge it.”

And, The Los Angeles Times also indicated that “European regulators added just one condition: Paramount must end a partnership with Universal Pictures to share distribution of movies in Europe.  Beyond that, regulators concluded that even with the proposed Paramount-Warner consolidation there were enough producers to avoid competitive harms.”

Below are the factors that the United States District Court for the Northern District of California evaluated in connection with granting of the temporary restraining order on July 20, 2026, focusing on the market for distribution of wide-release theatrical films:

1. Likelihood of success;
2. Irreparable harm; and
3. Balance of equities and public interest.

The question going forward appears to be:  How would the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution affect the Court’s legal analysis, given that–

1. the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division already issued a formal statement in connection with the closing of the Division’s investigation into the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance on June 12, 2026;
2. this lawsuit is brought against Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance by several States of the Union; and
3. most notably, per the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division, that “State Attorney General offices (“States”) participated in the Division’s investigation by virtue of the Parties’ voluntary waivers of confidentiality, which allowed the Division and States to share information with each other and for the States to attend and participate in the Division’s depositions?”  See Office of Public Affairs | Statement of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division on the Closing of Its Investigation of the Merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. | United States Department of Justice.

The Supremacy Clause in Article VI, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution provides as follows:

“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

Would—or should—the issue of “the public interest” weigh against sealing the case?

The next Court hearing is scheduled on August 3, 2026 in Oakland.

***

***