DOJ’s move to block AT&T, T-Mobile merger could be headache for Obama

The Department of Justice believes it has a strong case that the $39 billion merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA is anticompetitive, but in making every effort to block the deal, it also is exposing itself -- and the White House -- to some major political headwinds.

The economy is widely expected to be the major issue on the 2012 campaign trail, and DOJ's efforts to suffocate the deal are not winning the White House any friends in organized labor. Furthermore, the move reopens what has been a rich vein of attack for Obama critics -- that the White House is meddling in the work of the nation's businesses to the detriment of the economy. Dana Frix, a partner at Chadbourne & Parke LLP, said the strong complaint shows the DOJ is willing to pursue its work despite political and economic considerations. "When unemployment is so high, it takes a lot of political resolve for the DOJ to fight something that is backed by the unions and which at least purports to increase the number of jobs that will be available in the US in the near term," said Frix, who also chairs the firm's communications, media and technology practice group. "They decided that they were not going to turn away from the facts that were presented to them," he said.