By Daniel J. Mitchell

Recent court actions could finally derail one of the most laughable big government regulatory crusades in recent memory.

At issue is a case that the Biden-era Federal Trade Commission brought against Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, the nation’s largest alcohol distributor. The agency alleges that the company violated a 1930s law, the Robinson–Patman Act, by offering larger discounts to retailers that buy in bulk.

The underlying issue is simple: Should the government punish companies for giving consumers lower prices?

Because that is effectively what this case does.

Bulk discounts are the backbone of modern retail. A big reason why warehouse clubs like Costco or big retailers like Walmart have attractive prices is that they negotiate lower prices from suppliers in exchange for large orders. Those savings get passed along to consumers like you and me. That is why Americans can buy groceries, household goods, and electronics at prices that would have been unimaginable a generation ago.

Yet the Biden FTC attempted to use the Robinson–Patman Act—an anti-predatory pricing—to attack that very arrangement.

If regulators succeed in moving this case forward, the result won’t be greater fairness. It will be higher prices.

As Asheesh Agarwal, a former Assistant Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the FTC, wrote on March 27, “the FTC alleges that the distributor violated the Robinson–Patman Act by offering better prices to some retailers than others, harming competition.” However, Southern Glazer’s contends that, “after years of........

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