Are we approaching a new era of antitrust activity? Recently, the Biden administration has pointed to fertile territory for antitrust litigation, and law students are showing an increasing interest in this area. Encouraging this momentum is Lina Khan, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
According to a report by Politico:
“Lina Khan had spent the day doing TV interviews and press conferences defending the administration’s new tough-on-mergers stance. Now the chair of the Federal Trade Commission joined a more hospitable crowd. Squeezed into the corner of a bar steps from the White House, she urged law students not much younger than her to join the growing antitrust movement.”
‘This is just the very, very, very, very beginning of this work, and we need all of you to be in this movement, to be coming into government, to bring all your skills and talents to bear,’ said Khan to whoops and cheers.
While battling monopolistic industry giants is a daunting undertaking, it would be impossible if there were no one there to spearhead the fight. There was a time in our history where the ethos of antitrust regulation heavily rested on the notion that restraining trusts was crucial to preserving liberty. This ethos is fundamental to our nation, as we know it. If Lina Khan, along with the new wave of aspiring antitrust lawyers, can rekindle and sustain that spirit, the future landscape of American businesses may experience notable shifts. Perhaps there would even be less Amazon dominancy.
Preserving competition and curbing excessive market power is not just about economics – it’s about maintaining the democratic ideals upon which our nation stands. This reminds us that the future of antitrust regulation, too, is about more than just business and economics – it’s about the values we uphold as a society.
For further details, please read this article in Above the Law. According to the site, Google might be somewhere shaking in its boots.