Prospective AG Judge Garland Confirms Commitment To Antitrust Enforcement, Declines To Comment On Specific Cases Or Proposed Legislation

As expected, the hearings on Judge Merrick Garland's nomination to serve as Attorney General provided more insights into Senators' views on antitrust enforcement than Judge Garland's. Nevertheless, there were certain exchanges that give some hints about what lies ahead in this arena.

Judge Garland's Background

Judge Garland—who practiced antitrust law at Arnold & Porter early in his career, has written on the subject, and even taught antitrust at Harvard—will bring significantly more antitrust experience and expertise to the role of AG than any of his predecessors. Indeed, he testified that antitrust was his "first love in law school." He also paid homage to two major antitrust scholars with whom he had studied and worked, Professor Phillip Areeda (who literally wrote the book) and Arnold & Porter's (and Georgetown's) Robert Pitofsky, the former chair of the Federal Trade Commission.