S.M. Oliva Archive

A Mathematician, A Different Kind of Mathematician & A Statistician

November 17, 2009 2:37 PM by S.M. Oliva

Barack Obama named his first two appointees to the Federal Trade Commission today. Befitting a body that has the unrestricted power to regulate every U.S. company without regard to the Constitution or the laws of economics, Obama named two career lawyers in good standing with the antitrust establishment:

President Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals today:

Julie Brill, Nominee for Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission

Julie Brill became the Senior Deputy Attorney General and Chief of Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice in February 2009. A resident of North Carolina and Vermont, Brill is also a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia University's School of Law. Prior to her leadership at the North Carolina Department of Justice, Brill was an Assistant Attorney General for Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the State of Vermont for over 20 years (1988-2009). Brill has also served as a Vice-Chair of the Consumer Protection Committee of the American Bar Association Antitrust Section since 2004...

Edith Ramirez, Nominee for Commissioner, Federal Trade Commission

Edith Ramirez is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP where she specializes in intellectual property and complex litigation matters. She has a broad range of experience representing plaintiffs and defendants in copyright, trademark, antitrust, business tort, and other general business litigation cases...

For those keeping score, with Brill and Ramirez the FTC will now consist of two law firm partners specializing in antitrust, one former state assistant attorney general for antitrust, a law professor who specialized in antitrust, and a former staff lawyer for the Senate's antitrust subcommittee. If that's not diversity, I don't know what is.

Bookmark/Share | Comments (2)

Fumbling the Antitrust Football

November 12, 2009 2:14 PM by S.M. Oliva

Tonight the National Football League will telecast the first Thursday night game of the season on the league-owned NFL Network. Football fans might wonder why the NFL, which generally plays on Sundays and Monday nights, would force teams to radically alter their weekly routines to play on Thursdays. While the NFL's contracts with various television networks reserve Sunday and Monday telecasts, surely the NFL could reserve a Friday or Saturday evening slot so that a highlighted game could be played with less disruption to the participating clubs.

Well, the NFL doesn't have that option, in large part because federal antitrust law severely restricts the ability of the NFL -- and only the NFL -- to televise live games on Fridays and Saturdays. And, yes, it's a long story.*

Continue reading "Fumbling the Antitrust Football" »

Bookmark/Share | Comments (10)

Foreign Collusion

November 10, 2009 3:11 PM by S.M. Oliva

Foreign policy isn't just for the president and Congress. The four unelected lawyers appointed by George W. Bush who constitute the Federal Trade Commission have signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" with their unelected Russian counterparts:

The U.S. antitrust agencies and FAS Russia recognize that it is in their common interest to work together in technical cooperation activities related to competition law enforcement and policy. Subject to reasonably available resources, the parties may jointly engage in appropriate activities in furtherance of that interest, such as, inter alia: (a) participating in training courses on competition law and policy organized or sponsored by one another; (b) providing comments on proposed changes to competition laws, regulations, guidelines or other policies; and (c) assistance, where appropriate, in promoting understanding of sound competition policy among important supporting institutions, such as the judiciary, other government agencies, the business community, bar associations, and academic
institutions.

Translated, this means (a) taxpayers in both countries will finance junkets for career antitrust lawyers, (b) unelected Russian lawyers will have an opportunity to help rewrite U.S. antitrust laws, and (c) both governments will produce additional pro-antitrust propaganda.

Bookmark/Share | Comments (3)

SI Columnist Endorses Mass Murder
2009.11.09 | Comments (33)

Five Governors, No Waiting
2009.11.04 | Comments (2)

Another Government Takeover
2009.11.02 | Comments (11)

Not All Conflicts Are Skin Deep
2009.10.31 | Comments (3)

More Lawyers = Better Healthcare
2009.10.22 | Comments (0)

Grade Inflation Run Amok
2009.10.22 | Comments (14)

FTC Chairman Receives More Than Free Samples
2009.10.22 | Comments (1)

Theology & Market Power
2009.10.21 | Comments (6)

Liberal Guilt-o-Nomics
2009.10.19 | Comments (3)

Rush's Law?
2009.10.16 | Comments (13)

Wearing a Hog Nose Without Permission
2009.10.15 | Comments (5)