454
Opinion of the Court
granted certiorari, 503 U. S. 958 (1992), to resolve this conflict among the Circuits.6 We reverse.
II
While § 1 of the Sherman Act forbids contracts or conspiracies in restraint of trade or commerce, § 2 addresses the actions of single firms that monopolize or attempt to monopolize, as well as conspiracies and combinations to monopolize. Section 2 does not define the elements of the offense of attempted monopolization. Nor is there much guidance to be had in the scant legislative history of that provision, which was added late in the legislative process. See 1 E. Kintner, Legislative History of the Federal Antitrust Laws and Related Statutes 23-25 (1978); 3 P. Areeda & D. Turner, Antitrust Law ¶ 617, pp. 39-41 (1978). The legislative history does indicate that much of the interpretation of the necessarily broad principles of the Act was to be left for the courts in particular cases. See, e. g., 21 Cong. Rec. 2460 (1890) (statement of Sen. Sherman). See also 1 Kintner, supra, at 19; 3 Areeda & Turner, supra, ¶ 617, at 40.
This Court first addressed the meaning of attempt to monopolize under § 2 in Swift & Co. v. United States, 196 U. S. 375 (1905). The Court's opinion, written by Justice Holmes, contained the following passage:
tries Corp. v. Hartz Mountain Corp., 810 F. 2d 795, 804 (CA8 1987); Colorado Interstate Gas Co. v. Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America, 885 F. 2d 683, 693 (CA10 1989), cert. denied, 498 U. S. 972 (1990); Key Enterprises of Delaware, Inc. v. Venice Hospital, 919 F. 2d 1550, 1565 (CA11 1990); Neumann v. Reinforced Earth Co., 252 U. S. App. D. C. 11, 15-16, 786 F. 2d 424, 428-429, cert. denied, 479 U. S. 851 (1986); Abbott Laboratories v. Brennan, 952 F. 2d 1346, 1354 (CA Fed. 1991), cert. denied, 505 U. S. 1205 (1992).
6 Our grant of certiorari was limited to the first question presented in the petition: "Whether a manufacturer's distributor expressly absolved of violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act can, without any evidence of market power or specific intent, be found liable for attempting to monopolize solely by virtue of a unique Ninth Circuit rule?" Pet. for Cert. i.
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