U.S. DoJ Wants To Speed Up Appeal Of AT&T-Time Warner Deal

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday sought to fast-track its appeal of the court decision allowing AT&T Inc. (T) to buy Time Warner Inc., while offering the first hints of its legal arguments for the next phase of proceedings, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The department filed its appeal last week, a month after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon rejected the government's antitrust claims against the more than $80 billion deal, which AT&T and Time Warner have since completed.

The report noted that The Justice Department on Wednesday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to adopt an accelerated timeline for the appeal, with all legal briefs filed by mid-October and oral arguments to follow shortly thereafter. That could allow the appeals court to reach a decision in early 2019.

AT&T, which would like to remove prolonged legal uncertainty over the deal, doesn't object to the expedited timeline, according to the government's court filing.

The Justice Department reportedly argued that any delay in deciding the appeal "will make it increasingly difficult to unwind the merger," if the government wins.