On Monday the head of the Justice Department’s AntiTrust division, Christine A. Varney, announced an abrupt change in the government’s policy regarding the enforcement of the anti-monopoly laws under Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act by withdrawing the Bush administration’s report on “Competition and Monopoly”.
Ms. Varney made it clear, during her speech at the Center for American Progress, that no individual or court may use any portion of the Bush report as the government’s official policy regarding the creation and/or existence of business monopolies.
The Bush policy report was issued in September, 2008. The Department of Justice’s policy regarding monopolies had, in the past administration, severely impeded the development of new cases; in fact, during President Bush’s tenure, not one case was filed against a “dominant firm” for violating the antimonopoly law.
The downturn in the economy may have been an incentive to take a more lenient stance against large corporations. However, Ms. Varney assured that the DoJ will pursue these cases so to ensure that markets remain competative.
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