The purpose of this study is to analyze the possibility of political influence upon the Department of Justice merger decisions within the brewing industry. Political preference was measured by the congressional ratings of a liberal political action committee, The Americans for Democratic Action (ADA), thus giving a liberalness score. Regressions including the merger guideline variables and the political preference measurement were estimated with a logit model. After running numerous regressions, the addition of the political preference variable resulted in insignificance for otherwise significant 1968 and 1982 guidelines variables. These results may indicate an inability of the model to differentiate between political pressure on antitrust enforcement during the establishment of the 1968 and 1982 guidelines, or beyond the establishment of the guidelines. However, the Chair of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, the oversight committee for the Department of Justice, is found to be the most significant with liberalness having a positive impact upon the probability of DOJ merger litigation. / Graduation date: 1995