Felix Frankfurter

“ Determination whether that drastic remedy was required should have been postponed until the expiration of the trusteeship period so that the necessity for its application could then be judged in light of the effectiveness of the other sanctions of the decree. I recognize that various contingencies can be conjured up to support the view that divestiture, rather than trusteeship, holds the more solid promise of assuring the preservation of competition. ”

“ However, there is no compelling reason to order them to do what sound business judgment may compel. One has the right to assume that, in view of this Court's unanimous affirmance of the findings below that appellants were in violation of the Sherman Law, they will scrupulously obey the decree and not even by the subtlest indirection seek to avoid our decision. Therefore I think it is needless now to determine that divestiture must take place five years hence, rather than wait upon the event in order to determine whether divestiture should then be ordered. ”

“ During this five-year period a series of detailed controls have been imposed, under the supervision of the District Court, in order to prevent appellants Norris and Wirtz from exercising the power their stock ownership has given them over the operations of Madison Square Garden. The ownership itself has been sterilized. I think it not an unreasonable forecast that, even were we to postpone for five years the decision whether to order the divestiture or continue the trusteeship, appellants Norris and Wirtz would not find it profitable to continue their sterilized ownership of the Garden stock. ”