Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public policy matters. Any expressions of opinion are those of the author. We welcome responses to the views presented here. To join the debate, please email us at [email protected].

As an advisor to Woodrow Wilson, Louis Brandeis observed that “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” Concerns about market concentration and the
"curse of bigness" even apart from market concentration – with particular focus on the tech sector and such issues as use of, and access to, consumer data – have generated renewed interest in a Brandeisian approach, which has also found its way into the Democratic Party’s “Better Deal” plaform released last summer.

Has the time come for this New Brandeis Movement or is it merely, as others would have it, “hipster antitrust”?

On November 16, The Federalist Society will host a panel by the Corporations, Securities, & Antitrust Practice Group as a part of the 2017 National Lawyers Convention titled: The Future of Antitrust: Is the Consumer Welfare Standard Still Up to the Task or Is It Time for a “Better Deal”? The panel will discuss if antitrust enforcement should encompass such concerns as income inequality, jobs, wages, data privacy, and viewpoint diversity in media, or is the consumer welfare standard’s narrower focus on prices, efficiency, and consumer choice still appropriate.

The discussion will feature the following panelists:

  • Hon. Ronald A. Cass, Dean Emeritus, Boston University School of Law and President, Cass & Associates, PC
  • Prof. Daniel Crane, Frederick Paul Furth Sr. Professor of Law, The University of Michigan Law School
  • Ms. Deborah A. Garza, Partner, Covington & Burling
  • Hon. Douglas Ginsburg, United States Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit
  • Mr. Jonathan S. Kanter, Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
  • Mr. Barry C. Lynn, Executive Director, Open Markets Institute
  • Moderator: Hon. Brett Kavanaugh, United States Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit

 

 

 

 

 

 

Would broadening antitrust’s mandate correct a rising tide of Big Tech power that threatens consumer autonomy and even our democratic system?  Or would it impair efficiency, aggrandize governmental power, and undermine the rule of law? This topic is all the more timely with the antitrust scrutiny the Justice Department has exhibited for the AT&T/Time Warner merger, one of several cases this panel will likely discuss. Join the panel on Thursday, November 16 from 1:45 – 3:15 PM in the East Room of The Mayflower Hotel to entertain these questions and more as the National Lawyers Convention pursues its theme of Administrative Agencies and the Regulatory State.

 

Online registration ends Monday, November 13. Click here to register. Visit this site to consult the convention schedule.

A live stream feed will be available here throughout the the convention.