Biden’s Antitrust: The Transformation is Here But Will it Last?

Like all new administrations, the Biden Administration entered office promising change in antitrust policy. Unlike previous administrations, however, the change this Administration promised was nothing less than the total transformation of antitrust enforcement. In its first year, the Administration has begun that transformation by overhauling enforcement personnel, starting to make policy changes, and promising much more. But will it last? The potential overthrow of the antitrust status quo faces opposition from entrenched interests and skepticism from a judiciary trained in it. It will take time to make the new ideas stick — will the new antitrust leaders have that luxury? In this article, we explore the subtle and not-so-subtle changes in antitrust policy made by the Biden Administration in its first year and consider the likelihood that these changes are just the beginning of a drastic and permanent alteration of the antitrust landscape.  

By Steven Cernak & Luis Blanquez^[1]

I. INTRODUCTION

All new administrations and their antitrust leaders arrive promising change. But the Biden Administration leaders’ promises are for much greater change, nothing less than a total transformation of the antitrust policy that has been in place for decades. Such a generational transformation cannot be accomplished in just a year; however, the contours of the intended change are clear and the process to effectuate it has begun. Below, we describe the biggest steps