Big News, But Maybe Not So Big?

Antitrust reform advocate Lina Khan was designated as Chair of the FTC last week, a few minutes after her confirmation vote. She was confirmed on a bipartisan Senate vote although President Biden's plan to name her the agency Chair was a secret until the announcement.

Khan's meteoric rise to the top of the antitrust world is astounding. She is 32 years old and a mere four years out of law school but in that short time has changed the debate around the proper scope and purpose of the law. She wrote her influential 2017 paper, Amazon's Antitrust Paradox, as a law student, and since then has worked at a progressive think tank, as a staffer on the House Antitrust Subcommittee and as an advisor to FTC Commissioner Chopra. She was an Associate Professor at Columbia Law School immediately before joining the Commission.  Her influence is now seen in multiple bills working their way through the House Judiciary Committee, although the legislation may not survive when it gets