Explainer Episode 19 – The Burden of Proof in Competition Law
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
Regulatory Transparency Project's Fourth Branch Podcast
The House Committee on the Judiciary recently released a report on the state of competition in the digital marketplace. The report, which was the result of a 16-month-long investigation, describes itself as “an attack on how America has approached antitrust for the past 40 years.”
One of the recommendations in the report involves shifting the evidentiary burden of proof from the plaintiff to the defendant, particularly in civil mergers challenges, which would entail a significant change to antitrust law.
In this episode, Ashley Baker lays out the current burden of proof framework used in U.S. courts in competition law cases, the role of presumptions in antitrust litigation, and the potential implications of the burden shift proposed in the report.
Featuring:
Visit our website – www.RegProject.org – to learn more, view all of our content, and connect with us on social media.
Executive Director, Committee for Justice
Ashley Baker is Executive Director of the Committee for Justice and founder of the Alliance on Antitrust coalition. Her work focuses on antitrust law, technology regulation, administrative-agency authority, the Supreme Court, and judicial nominations. She closely follows the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, with particular attention to merger review, agency procedure, and the effects of regulation on American innovation and competitiveness. She is also founder of the Alliance on Antitrust Coalition.
Ashley has testified before the United States Senate on antitrust law. Her writing has appeared in Fox News, USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Hill, RealClearPolitics, The American Spectator, and other national publications. She also provides policy analysis through congressional testimony and correspondence, regulatory comments, and public commentary.
Ashley serves on the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project and Antitrust and Consumer Protection Practice Group Executive Committee. She is also active in the Republican National Lawyers Association and has spoken on the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary. An authority on the judicial-confirmation process, she worked closely on the successful confirmation efforts for Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as multiple federal appellate judges.