Did you hear about the effort by Senator Hutchison to broker a deal in the battle over the Wright Amendment that ran afoul of the Justice Department?

The agency's antitrust division told lawmakers restrictions in the local agreement to repeal the Wright Amendment in eight years "would be hard-core, per se violations of the Sherman Act," according to a copy of the memo obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.

The agency's concerns refer to an agreement among Texas officials to eventually repeal the so-called Wright Amendment and legislation sponsored by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, containing the agreement.

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The Justice Department said the gates to be torn down could be used by other airlines to enter and compete there. Razing them "is the very kind of collusive output reduction that the antitrust laws are designed to prevent."

The department said the parties to the local agreement are aware of the antitrust violations because they have sought blanket immunity for the agreement, instead of including an "antitrust savings clause," which the agency said is commonly done to preserve competition under antitrust laws.