Cite as: 540 U. S. 736 (2004)
Syllabus
conclusion that the United States is not an antitrust "person," in particular not a person who can be an antitrust defendant, was unaltered by Congress' action; indeed, the means Congress used to amend the antitrust law implicitly ratified Cooper's conclusion that the United States is not a proper antitrust defendant. Pp. 739-746. (b) For purposes of the antitrust laws, the Postal Service is not a separate person from the United States. The PRA's designation of the Postal Service as an "independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States," 39 U. S. C. § 201, is not consistent with the idea that the Postal Service is an entity existing outside the Government. Indeed, the designation indicates just the contrary. The PRA gives the Postal Service a high degree of independence from other Government offices, but it remains part of the Government. The Sherman Act defines "person" to include corporations, 15 U. S. C. § 7, and had Congress chosen to create the Postal Service as a federal corporation, the Court would have to ask whether the Sherman Act's definition extends to the federal entity under this part of the definitional text. Congress, however, declined to create the Postal Service as a Government corporation, opting instead for an independent establishment. The choice of words likely was more informed than unconsidered, because Congress debated proposals to make the Postal Service a Government corporation before it enacted the PRA. Although the PRA refers explicitly to various federal statutes and specifies that the Postal Service is exempt from some and subject to others, 39 U. S. C. §§ 409-410, it makes no mention of the Sherman Act or the antitrust laws. This silence leads to no helpful inference one way or the other on the question at issue. However, the other considerations the Court has discussed lead to the conclusion that, absent an express congressional statement that the Postal Service can be sued for antitrust violations despite its status as an independent establishment of the Government, the PRA does not subject the Postal Service to antitrust liability. This conclusion is consistent with the nationwide, public responsibilities of the Postal Service, which has different goals from private corporations, the most important being that it does not seek profits, § 3621. It also has broader obligations, including the provision of universal mail delivery and free mail delivery to certain classes of persons, §§ 3201- 3405, and, most recently, increased public responsibilities related to national security. Finally, the Postal Service has many powers more characteristic of Government than of private enterprise, including its state-conferred monopoly on mail delivery, § 601 et seq., and the powers of eminent domain and to conclude international postal agreements, §§ 401, 407. On the other hand, but in ways still relevant to the antitrust laws' nonapplicability, the Postal Service's powers are more
737
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007