Jonathan Kanter

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Following Kanter's inauguration, Google wrote to the DOJ to request Kanter's recusal from the United States v. Google antitrust case. According to The New York Times , Google's complaint centered on Kanter's past criticism of the company's business practices, which Google considered proof of his lack of impartiality in the case, as well as his past representation of Google competitors. [25] Google's request for recusal was criticized as lacking legal basis by Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus at Harvard Law School, as well as by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who accused Google of trying to "bully law enforcement." [8]

In May 2022, it was reported that Kanter would be temporarily barred from participating in antitrust scrutiny of Google until the DOJ decides if he must ultimately recuse himself. [26] In response, a coalition of 28 advocacy groups wrote in favor of allowing Kanter to continue his participation in the case. [27] According to a June 2022 report in The Daily Beast , the decision of whether to allow Kanter to participate in United States v. Google would fall on Vanita Gupta, associate attorney general. [28]

In January 2023, it was reported that Kanter would be cleared to continue to work on DOJ cases involving Google. [29]

Political views

Throughout his career, Kanter has been a critic of Big Tech. [30] [31] Kanter has questioned the value of the dominant "consumer welfare standard" in antitrust policy, arguing that the purpose of antitrust enforcement "is not to decide what is maximally efficient, but to enforce the law". [32]

Kanter has been described as being associated with the anti-monopolistic New Brandeis movement alongside FTC chair Lina Khan and National Economic Council (NEC) advisor Tim Wu. [2] [3] Kanter's approach to antitrust enforcement has been criticized by former Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence Summers. [33]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "UNITED STATES SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NON-JUDICIAL NOMINEES - Jonathan Kanter" (PDF). United States Senate .
  2. 1 2 Sammon, Alexander; Dayen, David (July 21, 2021). "The New Brandeis Movement Has Its Moment". The American Prospect. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Schlesinger, Jacob M. (August 27, 2021). "The Return of the Trustbusters". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved July 25, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Feiner, Lauren (January 18, 2022). "FTC, DOJ seek to rewrite merger guidelines, signaling a tougher look at large deals". CNBC. Retrieved January 20, 2022.
  5. ↑ "FTC's Khan and DOJ's Kanter Beat Back Deals at Fastest Clip in Decades". Bloomberg.com. December 18, 2023. Retrieved December 25, 2023.
  6. 1 2 Nylen, Leah (October 31, 2022). "DOJ Gets Conviction in First Criminal Monopoly Case in Decades". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  7. 1 2 "Questionnaire for Non-Judicial Nominees" (PDF). United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  8. 1 2 Palma, Stefania (June 3, 2022). "A 'once-in-a-century inflection point': DoJ's antitrust chief on curbing corporate power". Financial Times . Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  9. ↑ Michaels, Dave (January 29, 2023). "DOJ Suit to Break Up Google Was Years in the Making for Antitrust Chief". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  10. ↑ "President Biden Announces Jonathan Kanter for Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust". The White House. July 20, 2021. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  11. ↑ Zakrzewski, Cat; Pager, Tyler (July 20, 2021). "Biden to nominate Big Tech adversary Jonathan Kanter to helm the Justice Dept.'s antitrust division". Washington Post. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  12. ↑ Khardori, Ankush (December 14, 2021). "Opinion | It Took Forever to Get Confirmed. Now All He Has to Do is Fix All of Antitrust Law". POLITICO. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ Feiner, Lauren (July 20, 2021). "Biden to nominate Google critic and progressive favorite Jonathan Kanter to lead DOJ Antitrust Division". CNBC. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  14. ↑ Feiner, Lauren (September 24, 2021). "Nine former DOJ antitrust chiefs urge Senate to confirm Jonathan Kanter as antitrust head". CNBC. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
  15. ↑ "Nominations". Washington, D.C.: United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. October 6, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Daily Digest: Thursday, October 28, 2021". www.congress.gov. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  17. ↑ "On the Nomination (Confirmation: Jonathan Kanter, of Maryland, to be an Assistant Attorney General)". US Senate. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  18. ↑ "U.S. Senate confirms Google critic Kanter to head Justice Dept Antitrust Division". Reuters. November 17, 2021. Retrieved November 17, 2021.
  19. ↑ Goudsward, Andrew Goudsward (August 22, 2022). "DOJ Antitrust Chief, a Veteran of Big Law, Keeps Distance From Defense Bar". The National Law Journal. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  20. ↑ Fung, Brian (March 6, 2023). "DOJ will hire more data experts to scrutinize digital monopolies, antitrust chief says | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved March 14, 2023.
  21. ↑ Papscun, Dan (October 27, 2022). "DOJ Notches First No-Poach Win With Staffing Firm's Sentencing". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  22. ↑ Demblowski, Denis (November 4, 2022). "ANALYSIS: DOJ Is Shaking Up World of Interlocking Directorates". Bloomberg Law. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  23. ↑ "U.S. says seven board directors resigned under antitrust pressure". Reuters. October 19, 2022. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  24. ↑ Nylen, Leah; Lim, Dawn (October 28, 2022). "Private Equity Firms Probed by US on Overlapping Board Seats". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  25. ↑ McCabe, David (November 19, 2021). "Google questions if the new Justice Department antitrust boss can be impartial". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  26. ↑ Nylen, Leah (May 10, 2022). "Antitrust Chief Barred From Google Cases Amid Recusal Push". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  27. ↑ Nylen, Leah (May 16, 2022). "DOJ's Kanter Shouldn't Be Recused on Google Cases, Advocates Say". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  28. ↑ Bredderman, William (June 13, 2022). "DOJ Antitrust Honchos Drew Millions From Google-Backed Groups". The Daily Beast. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
  29. ↑ Sisco, Josh (January 13, 2023). "DOJ antitrust chief cleared to oversee Google probes". POLITICO. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  30. ↑ Hirsch, Lauren; McCabe, David (July 20, 2021). "Biden to Name a Critic of Big Tech as the Top Antitrust Cop". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  31. ↑ Grim, Ryan (April 28, 2021). "Top Contender for Justice Department Antitrust Post Took Partisan Approach to Google Cases". The Intercept. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  32. ↑ Abarinova, Masha (December 6, 2019). "Advocates for Antitrust Enforcement Say Consumer Welfare Standard Only One Layer of Competition Law" . Retrieved September 9, 2021.
  33. ↑ Nichols, Hans (May 24, 2022). "Larry Summers' new inflation target: Biden's "hipster" antitrust policies". Axios. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
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Jonathan Kanter
Jonathan Kanter DOJ Antitrust photo.jpg
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division
Assumed office
November 16, 2021