The Supreme Court backed American Express Co.’s policy of preventing retailers from offering customers incentives to pay with cheaper cards, a major victory for the company that puts its business model on solid legal ground, the Wall Street Journal reported. The court’s decision handed a loss to a group of more than a dozen states and the Justice Department, which challenged an AmEx policy that prohibited retailers and other businesses from offering consumers discounts or incentives to pay with cheaper cards. Merchants incur so-called swipe fees when customers pay with a card; AmEx historically has charged higher swipe fees than its competitors, which it has justified to merchants on the grounds that its customers spend more. The high court, in a 5-4 opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, said that government antitrust enforcers were unable to meet their burden of proving that the AmEx anti-steering rules harmed consumers. The decision split the court along ideological lines with conservative justices in the majority.
