Attorney General Ellison asks to intervene in court review of alleged corrupt $14B antitrust settlement

Joins coalition of 13 AGs in also asking court to hold evidentiary hearing under federal law on whether Hewlett Packard Enterprise acquisition of Juniper Networks is in the public interest

If allowed to go through, merger would result in two firms controlling more than 75% of market for wireless local area network technologies that are critical for the modern workplace

AG Ellison and coalition: ‘Without the States’ intervention, the only parties will be those that support the settlement, and the Court would hear a one-sided argument’

October 16, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced today that he has joined a coalition of 13 attorneys general in a motion to intervene in a federal court review of the $14 billion acquisition by Hewlett Packard Enterprise of rival Juniper Networks that was reportedly the result of undue influence by well-connected lobbyists and intervention from some of the highest levels of the Department of Justice to approve a settlement over the objection of senior DOJ antitrust staff attorneys, two of whom were later fired for “insubordination.” The settlement that DOJ reached with the companies falls far short of remedying the harms that DOJ claimed earlier this year would result from the merger. If allowed to go through, the merger will result in two firms — HPE and Cisco — controlling over 75% of the relevant market for enterprise-grade wireless local area network technologies. The DOJ itself predicted that prices would rise by up to 14% as a result of this merger.

In light of the significant concerns about the process and substance of the HPE/Juniper Networks settlement, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition are asking the court to allow them to intervene as parties in the lawsuit, given states’ power as joint enforcers of federal antitrust law. “Without the States’ intervention, the only parties will be those that support the settlement, and the Court would hear a one-sided argument,” they write in their motion.

The State AG coalition is also urging the court to apply its broad authority under the federal Tunney Act to order an evidentiary hearing in which the states can appear as parties. The Tunney Act is a post-Watergate law that Congress enacted in 1974 to ensure that antitrust settlements that the federal government reaches are based on the merits rather than undue influence by powerful corporations and their well-connected lobbyists. Under the law, the Justice Department must publicize the terms of antitrust settlements and consider public comments, and the courts must consider whether a settlement is in the public interest.

“Affording your life is tough enough, and when just a few companies dominate a critical sector of the economy and drive up costs for everyone, they make it that much tougher. Worse yet is when they reach that domination by corrupt influence,” Attorney General Ellison said. “My fellow attorneys general and I who enforce federal antitrust law are asking the court to let us intervene in this case and to hold a hearing into the circumstances that led to this inadequate settlement because someone needs to question in court how it came to be and whether it is really in the public interest or not. I look forward to applying the power of my office to cast the broad light of day on this process.”

On January 30, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued to block HPE’s proposed acquisition of Juniper Networks. HPE and Juniper are currently the second- and third-largest providers of enterprise-grade wireless local area network technologies, after Cisco Systems. As DOJ said when it filed the lawsuit, “WLAN technology — which includes hardware, software, and advanced artificial intelligence — is critical for the modern workplace. Millions of Americans today create and share company resources and access the internet from wireless-enabled devices. Retail employees wirelessly process payments and log inventory. Doctors access medical records on phones and tablets and track life-saving patient care on the go. University students take notes on their laptops and access course materials from their dorm rooms. Wireless networking is the primary means by which many employees connect to their employer’s computer network and the internet.”

On June 28, 2025, DOJ announced a settlement with HPE and Juniper, the terms of which Attorney General Ellison and the coalition call in today’s motion “facially inadequate” and “wholly deficient.” According to public reports, the Justice Department trial staff working on the merger case, along with senior leadership in the Antitrust Division, opposed the HPE settlement. But higher-level political appointees at the department were lobbied by individuals with close ties to the Trump administration that HPE hired, not all of whom HPE publicly disclosed as required by the Tunney Act. The chief of staff to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi then allegedly pushed the settlement through over the objections of the Antitrust Division and in a manner that did not even address the anticompetitive harms alleged in the government’s complaint. As one example, the proposed settlement merely requires HPE to divest a small-business line that is largely irrelevant to the litigation.

Two senior Antitrust Division attorneys appointed by President Trump’s own administration were reportedly fired for opposing the settlement. In a speech to the Aspen Tech Institute in August 2025, Roger Alford, one of the senior DOJ antitrust attorneys who was fired, spoke out publicly against the settlement, calling it inadequate and describing the circumstances as a “scandal” that represents the “Rule of Lobbyists” over the “Rule of Law.”

In August 2025, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and three other United States senators wrote to the court overseeing the litigation to ask it to hold an evidentiary hearing under the Tunney Act, citing the same concerns that the coalition of attorneys general cite today in their motion to intervene. The senators concur with the coalition of attorneys general that the reports of undue influence by connected lobbyists that HPE hired and high-level overruling of the Antitrust Division by political appointees at DOJ “raise concerns regarding whether the settlement advances the interests of the public or a well-connected, well-paid group of insiders. At a minimum, it’s unclear whether the settlement even addresses the Justice Department’s original antitrust concerns.”

In filing the motion to intervene, Attorney General Ellison is joined by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin.