Question

after congress passed the sherman antitrust act in 1890, many judges initially ruled against the new law in cases involving trusts. which statements best explains the reason many judges disagreed with the antitrust act? trusts were able to sell their goods at lower prices to consumers, trusts were private property that the government should not control, competition between businesses was still sufficient to benefit consumers, labor unions were damaging the free trade associated with trusts

Answer 1

"Trusts were private property that the government should not control."

Many judges in the 1890s followed a laissez-faire view and a narrow reading of the Sherman Act, treating combinations and contracts among businesses as lawful private property and contracts that government should not interfere with. Cases like United States v. E. C. Knight (1895) illustrate this approach: the Court limited federal power to regulate manufacturing and required a strict showing of an "unreasonable" restraint on interstate commerce, which effectively protected many trusts. The other choices are less accurate explanations of the judicial rationale.