Antitrust Law Enforcement During the Obama Administration

In the past three and a half years, the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has taken significant civil and criminal enforcement actions in industries essential to consumers’ everyday lives. The division has been active on many fronts, including the litigation challenges to proposed acquisitions by AT&T of T-Mobile and by H&R Block of TaxAct; the civil enforcement actions against anti-competitive conduct in the electronic book, financial services and health care sectors; and criminal prosecutions in the auto parts, real estate and financial services industries.

On April 23, the Governance Studies program at Brookings hosted Sharis A. Pozen, acting assistant attorney general of the Antitrust Division, for a discussion about the division’s work and enforcement approach. Brookings Fellow Allan Friedman provided introductory remarks and moderated the discussion.

Following her remarks, Pozen took questions from the audience.