During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama criticized the Bush Administration for “the weakest record of antitrust enforcement of any administration in the last half century” and promised “to reinvigorate antitrust enforcement.” Has the Obama Administration’s antitrust enforcement record over the last six years lived up to this extravagant promise? More specifically, what grade should be assigned to Obama Administration antitrust policy overall?
The Heritage Foundation will explore these questions in a January 29, 2015 conference entitled “Obama Administration Antitrust Policy: A Report Card.” The conference will start with a bang, with keynote remarks by former FTC Chairman, Professor Bill Kovacic – perhaps the most dynamic antitrust orator of our time. The conference will then feature a free-flowing discussion among antitrust experts, with separate panels discussing the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, and international antitrust. Speakers will include top notch practitioners and scholars who have led the FTC and the Antitrust Division – and one distinguished federal jurist, D.C. Circuit Judge and George Mason Law Professor Douglas Ginsburg, who has been a leading academic, Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, and OMB Administrator for Information and Regulatory Affairs. Former Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust James Rill, who was the leader in promoting international antitrust convergence, will also speak.
Best of all, the conference (including lunch) is free – all you need to do is register for it at the Heritage Foundation’s website. You won’t want to miss it.