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Note: 

  Antitrust—State Exemption—The Sherman Act Does Not Apply to State Activity Regardless of Its Commercial Nature.  New Mexico v. American Petrofina, Inc., 501 F.2d 363 (9^th Cir. 1974), 53 TEXAS L. REV. 566 (1975). 

In American Petrofina, the Ninth Circuit held that the Sherman Act does not apply to states.  In this note, the author contends that the court’s statutory analysis and legislative history were not the optimal methods for analyzing the issue before it.  Rather, the court should have undertaken a more functional analysis, weighing the broad economic purposes of the Sherman Act with principles of federalism and state sovereignty.  Further, the court should have given a more systematic analysis of how antitrust remedies might apply to states.  Ultimately, the author finds a broad state exemption inconsistent with the purposes of the Sherman Act.