Here's something that flew under the radar!!

The Conservative 5-4 Supreme Court saw fit to eliminate our price protection. Retailers can set prices, now, without violating the anti-trust law. This means that we will be paying more for our things.

From Findlaw:

High Court Eases Ban on Minimum Prices
CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER AP Business Writer

(AP) - WASHINGTON-Manufacturers will have greater leeway to set minimum prices at the retail level without violating antitrust laws under a Thursday Supreme Court ruling that could hurt consumers and small merchants.

By allowing minimum price agreements, the court's 5-4 decision could lead to higher prices, dissenting justices said, as it becomes more difficult for smaller stores and Internet retailers to offer lower-priced goods.

The court said agreements on minimum prices are legal if they promote competition, meaning accusations of antitrust violations will be evaluated case by case.

In a 1991 decision, the Supreme Court had declared that minimum pricing agreements always violate federal antitrust law. But Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that the principle that past decisions should be left alone "does not compel our continued adherence" in this instance.

Minimum price agreements can benefit consumers, Kennedy wrote, by enabling retailers to invest in greater customer service without fear of being undercut by discount rivals. The agreements also could make it easier for new products to compete, he added, because a retailer could recoup the costs of marketing a new good by charging a higher price.

Dissenting from that view, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote: "The only safe predictions to make about today's decision are that it will likely raise the price of goods at retail."

The Consumer Federation of America said in court filings that the ban on minimum price agreements allowed "innovative retailers to continually enter the market, offering new and lower priced alternatives to consumers."

But Roy Englert, an antitrust attorney at Robbins Russell, said the court's decision does have boundaries that will protect entrepreneurs. The ruling only allows minimum price agreements between manufacturers of a single brand of a product and retailers, Englert said, while other brands of the same product can still compete on price.

Moreover, if only one brand is available, retailers and consumers can still sue manufacturers for anticompetitive conduct, Englert said. The courts will now evaluate such suits on the merits, rather than automatically finding them illegal.

Englert helped prepare a brief in support of Leegin.

Some antitrust experts say consumers shopping on the Internet will be hurt by abandoning the 96-year-old rule.

This Supreme Court seems to be overturning all the past rulings. They have to be stopped. And they, just as Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, can be impeached.

Again, I am pleading, Wake up America!!!