Last week, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is allegedly weighing whether to formally intervene in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s multi-state antitrust lawsuit against BlackRock Inc., and State Street Corp.
According to sources familiar with the matter, senior Justice Department officials have held discussions in recent weeks with state attorneys general about the possibility of joining the lawsuit, but no final decision has been made. In its reporting, Bloomberg noted the oddity of the rumor, adding “it’s unclear why the Justice Department would move to join the case now, nearly two years after it was first filed.”
The development marks a potential escalation of a case that has already attracted significant federal attention. The lawsuit, which Paxton filed in November 2024 alongside a coalition of twelve other Republican attorneys general, accuses BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard of conspiring to artificially constrict the coal market through anticompetitive trade practices.
In February, Vanguard settled out of their share of the lawsuit for $29.5 million and shed their holdings in top coal producer Peabody Energy the month following, which confirmed analyst fears that desired divestment remedies could have an adverse effect on energy capital markets. BlackRock and State Street remain defendants in the case and have continued to support and hold investments in coal companies.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum both previously criticized the lawsuit, arguing its forced divestment could threaten grid reliability by cutting off access to capital and hurt “everybody who pays an electrical bill.”
The news of potential DOJ intervention arrives at a politically charged moment. With Election Day just weeks away, Paxton is locked in one of the most competitive Senate races in the country. For Paxton, who has centered his campaign on protecting working Texans from powerful financial interests and putting thousands of dollars back in their pockets, the antitrust lawsuit offers an early test case of his consumer-protection promise.
Whether it will actually deliver is a matter of serious dispute among energy economists and legal analysts, including some of Paxton's own allies. President Trump's former Energy Secretary, Rick Perry, called the lawsuit "misguided,” arguing it threatens to undermine Trump's energy agenda. "If successful, this lawsuit could force an estimated $18 billion in coal-related holdings off the books of these major asset managers," Perry wrote.
Perry's warning echoes what the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) laid out in Fox News. ACCF noted that markets themselves appeared to recognize the paradox: when the Trump DOJ and FTC filed their statement of interest in May 2025, share prices of several major coal companies closed in the red even as the broader market ended the day up.
The legal theory underlying the case has drawn pointed scrutiny as well. Former Republican Congressman Ken Buck, who served as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee's Antitrust Subcommittee, called the case "long on allegations but short on evidence,” noting it fails to cite a single instance of an investment firm telling a coal company to reduce output.
Economist Charles Sauer put it more bluntly: coal's decline isn't a conspiracy, it's a market signal, driven by natural gas being cheaper and cleaner and renewables becoming increasingly cost-competitive, not by pressure from Wall Street investors who are themselves invested in coal companies.
The Texas grid tells its own story. Texans are genuinely hurting on energy costs: nearly half of Texas households reported their monthly electricity bill increased over the past year, more than a quarter have cut back on other expenses to afford it, and one affordability study puts Texas electricity prices up roughly 30% since 2020. The real culprits, analysts say, are transmission infrastructure costs, AI-driven load growth, and natural gas price volatility.
Over the summer, Texas lawyer Chuck Meyer argued that if Paxton’s lawsuit “succeeds in chilling capital, raising legal uncertainty, and deterring investment in critical energy sectors,” that the consequences will be felt through “higher costs, reduced reliability, and fewer opportunities for the very workers and communities this lawsuit purports to protect.”
Against that backdrop, the DOJ's decision on intervention will carry weight well beyond the courtroom. Half of likely Texas voters say affordability and cost of living is their top concern heading into Election Day.
