Brief Fact Summary. Amanda Acquisition (Plaintiff) confronted Wisconsin’s antitakeover law, which prevented a corporation procuring a Wisconsin corporation from merging with the purchasing corporationlacking consent was purportedly inconsistent with federal law.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. A state law preventing the merging of a procured national corporation, even when lacking its permission, is consistent with federal law.
Issue. Is a state law preventing the merging of a procured national corporation, even when lacking its permission,not consistent with federal law?
Held. (Easterbrook, J.) No. A state law preventing the merging of a procured national corporation, even when lacking its permission, is consistent with federal law. The Williams Act was not meant to supersede state law, and only when state law directly clashes with the Act’s stipulations will preemption occur. The Williams Act is not a general preemptive regulatory scheme for tender offers. The Williams Act governs the method of tender offers: timing, disclosure, etc. and Wisconsin’s law has no affect on this method. Instead, it involvesessential rights in shares obtained via tender offers. Regulations of this type do not clash with the Act and so is not forestalled. The Commerce Clause is mainly apprehensive with bias against interstate commerce by protectionist efforts of localities and states. This law is lacking bias in this way, seeing as it pertains similarly to all tender offerors, whether they are in Wisconsin or not. As one would assume, the majority of possible offerors are nondomestic. This alone though is not adequateenough to decide that the law discriminates against interstate commerce. The law does not violate the Commerce Clause, it is thus constitutional. Affirmed
Sometimes is understood to authorize such general-purpose balancing, a closer examination of the cases may support the conclusion that the Court has looked for discrimination rather than for baleful effects.
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