{"id":5039,"date":"2023-09-01T05:23:59","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T05:23:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/business\/google-targets-doj-antitrust-chief-with-bias-allegations-in-monopoly-defense\/"},"modified":"2023-09-01T05:23:59","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T05:23:59","slug":"google-targets-doj-antitrust-chief-with-bias-allegations-in-monopoly-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prosfunds.com\/?p=5039","title":{"rendered":"Google targets DOJ antitrust chief with bias allegations in monopoly defense"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n Google went on the offensive Thursday in a closely watched antitrust case dealing with the tech giant\u2019s digital advertising dominance, questioning the motives of the Justice Department\u2019s top antitrust official.\n <\/p>\n

\n Google\u2019s filing targets Jonathan Kanter, the US assistant attorney general for antitrust, and his widely reported past legal representation of Google-parent Alphabet\u2019s corporate rivals, such as Microsoft, Yelp and News Corp, among others. Google\u2019s attorneys argue that Kanter\u2019s past clients create an ethical conflict and should raise doubts about the US government\u2019s overall lawsuit.\n <\/p>\n

\n In the filing to the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, Google lawyers cited years of advocacy by Kanter on behalf of his clients that were opposed to Google, as well as public remarks he has made in the past that Google said were evidence of bias. They also cited evidence in the case that, prior to joining DOJ, Kanter lobbied in a personal capacity for the agency to pursue an antitrust case against Google.\n <\/p>\n

\n Kanter, the filing alleged, \u201cis using public office to accomplish what he was unable to do in private practice on behalf of his paying clients.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The Justice Department declined to comment on the filing.\n <\/p>\n

\n Google\u2019s allegations seek to reframe the DOJ\u2019s suit from a cut-and-dry application of antitrust law by career DOJ staff into something more akin to a personal vendetta led by a single powerful individual and his ideological allies.\n <\/p>\n

\n If it works, the effort could bolster Google\u2019s claims in the case that the lawsuit violates the company\u2019s due process rights and that the US government is selectively enforcing the law.\n <\/p>\n

\n When Kanter was appointed to lead the DOJ\u2019s antitrust division, he signed an ethics pledge that effectively prevented him from getting involved in the case, the filing said, adding that \u201cas soon as AAG Kanter was \u2018cleared\u2019 to lead the matter, a complaint was prepared that asserted the same antitrust theories that AAG Kanter had been paid to press for years on behalf of his private practice clients.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Google also accused Kanter in the filing of surrounding himself at DOJ with others who may have a bias against the company, including the Stanford economist and artificial intelligence expert Susan Athey, who previously worked for Microsoft and was named chief economist of the DOJ\u2019s antitrust division last year. The filing also cites evidence in the case showing that Kanter and Athey had contacted DOJ in 2020 pitching an anti-Google presentation the two had made, volunteering to deliver the presentation in a personal capacity and \u201cnot for any specific client.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Google argued in the filing that the court should permit the company to conduct additional fact-finding that might yield further evidence about Kanter\u2019s impartiality. There are a number of pending discovery requests, the filing said, that could show how Kanter\u2019s role in bringing the case may have been \u201cinappropriately infected\u201d by the earlier events of his career.\n <\/p>\n

\n The filing reflects an ongoing dispute between Google and the US government over the extent of discovery in the case, which was brought by the Biden administration in January. The case calls for Google\u2019s ad tech business to be broken up. It is the second major antitrust suit the US government has leveled at Google, after the Trump administration sued the company in 2020 over alleged antitrust violations linked to Google\u2019s search business. That high-stakes case heads to trial next month.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Biden administration has sought to limit the scope of discovery to prevent Google from gathering evidence about Kanter\u2019s advocacy, according to Thursday\u2019s filing. According to the US government\u2019s motion earlier this month, the DOJ sought to restrict discovery from \u201cany party or non-party\u201d related to Google\u2019s claims about due process or selective enforcement.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a memo to the court accompanying the Aug. 18 motion, DOJ argued that Google\u2019s discovery requests were \u201cunusual, invasive, and irrelevant,\u201d and accused Google of trying to distract from its alleged \u201cmonopolization scheme\u201d with frivolous defenses.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAny suggestion that the instant lawsuit was motivated by bias rather than the facts of Google\u2019s own conduct is belied by the fact that the United States\u2019 investigation of Google\u2019s conduct has spanned the tenure of two Assistant Attorneys General, appointed in 2017 and 2021 respectively, as well as two Acting Assistant Attorney Generals,\u201d the DOJ memo said. It added that dozens of career prosecutors have been involved in the case from the beginning, and that Google can hardly claim to have been singled out when other antitrust regulators around the world have applied similar scrutiny to the tech giant.\n <\/p>\n

\n Should the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia side with Google in the dispute, it could lead to more information entering the record that might sway the jury eventually assigned to the case.\n <\/p>\n

\n Google\u2019s lawyers previously asked US District Judge Leonie Brinkema to transfer the lawsuit to Manhattan where some other antitrust cases are pending.\n <\/p>\n

\n Judge Brinkema declined that request in March, keeping the case in Virginia.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Google went on the offensive Thursday in a closely watched antitrust case dealing with the tech giant\u2019s digital advertising dominance, questioning the motives of the Justice Department\u2019s top antitrust official. Google\u2019s filing targets Jonathan Kanter, the US assistant attorney general for antitrust, and his widely reported past legal representation of Google-parent Alphabet\u2019s corporate rivals, such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"yoast_head":"\nGoogle targets DOJ antitrust chief with bias allegations in monopoly defense | Prosfunds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Google went on the offensive Thursday in a closely watched antitrust case dealing with the tech giant\u2019s digital advertising dominance, questioning the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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