FIRST IN MA: ANTI-MONOPOLY MOVES: In a letter to Secretary Tom Vilsack , several anti-monopoly, farm and left-leaning groups blasted a USDA official’s trial testimony in which she weakened the Justice Department’s efforts to block U.S. Sugar’s $315 million acquisition of Imperial Sugar. The testimony, the group argues, contradicts President Biden’s executive order demanding an “whole-of-government” approach to competition policy. Indeed, the groups write, the Agriculture Department “actively undermined the ongoing and laudable work of the Department of Justice.”

The groups want:

• USDA to issue a clarification restating the department’s commitment to Biden’s antitrust goals
• To issue new guidelines governing the relationships between regulators and the industries they oversee
• To conduct a “top-to-bottom review” of USDA for ethical violations

Also: American Economic Liberties Project, which helped lead the letter, has also filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Sugar acquisition case , which the DOJ is appealing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. The Justice Department made clear its intention to appeal the district court’s decision last month.