Recent FTC Report And Nomination Of New FTC Commissioners Suggest More Active Antitrust Enforcement

Introduction

A report issued by the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") on Nov. 17, 2009, shows that merger enforcement activity at the FTC has increased over the past year. One day before the report was published, President Obama also nominated two Democrats—Julie Brill and Edith Ramirez—to serve as FTC Commissioners. If confirmed by the Senate, the political composition of the FTC Commissioners will go from one Democrat, one Independent, and two Republicans, to three Democrats and two Republicans, giving Chairman Jon Leibowitz a Democratic majority for the first time since he was named Chairman.

More Active Antitrust Enforcement At The FTC

President Obama pledged during his 2008 campaign to "reinvigorate antitrust enforcement" and "step up review of merger activity."¹ President Obama criticized the Bush administration for "what may be the weakest record of antitrust enforcement of any administration in the last half century."² We expect that the new