The Justice Department will be allowed to reopen an antitrust investigation into the National Association of Realtors, a federal appeals court ruled Friday after the trade group insisted that the probe could not go forward because of the terms of an earlier settlement.

Judge Florence Pan, writing for the majority of a D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals three-judge panel, said a closing letter in the earlier case, written by the government in the previous administration, did not mean the investigation could never be reopened, reported Politico.

“We will not interpret a contract to cede a sovereign right of the United States unless the government waives that right unmistakably,” Pan said in the 21-page opinion. “The closing letter contains no ‘unmistakable term’ ceding DOJ’s power to reopen its investigation: To the contrary, it includes a ‘no inference clause’ that explicitly disclaims any intent to include unstated terms.”

Read more at Newsmax© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.