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In the final entry of The Prompt Series for 2025, we posed an open-ended question that solicited timely and thoughtful answers from the panel:
It’s the holiday season. Who or what in the antitrust world deserves our thanksgiving, and who or what deserves a lump of coal?
Before we turn to the replies, we want to give our own words of gratitude. We have dedicated this post to James F. Rill, who recently passed away. He was a gracious giant within antitrust circles and served as a mentor to many of us. His impact has been made over several decades and will be felt for decades to come.
We also extend thanks to each of our antitrust experts who have weighed in on the first 10 Prompts. This exercise depends on – and the antitrust community obtains large benefits from – their wisdom. We look forward to keeping the conversation going in 2026.
On to the words of thanks from our panel…
“While the antitrust world has benefited from many over the years, Jim Rill was special. I am thankful for what he contributed to advance antitrust in a positive direction. He will be missed.”
“I would give thanks for the tremendous career of Jim Rill. He left a mark both through his leadership and through his mentorship of generations of subsequent antitrust leaders.”
“Jim Rill, a dear friend to many in the antitrust bar who passed away on Nov. 21, deserves much gratitude. Consumers should be thankful that – largely because of his recommendation contained in the Report of the International Competition Policy Advisory Committee, which he co-chaired – the International Competition Network was established and drove a consensus globally for many years that the antitrust laws should be used to promote consumer welfare rather than industrial policy goals. Companies should be grateful for his tireless work to ensure the harmonization and convergence of antitrust laws around the world, reducing for many years the chances of, e.g., divergent outcomes in multijurisdictional mergers. And the many antitrust practitioners who benefitted from Jim's mentoring and leadership should be forever grateful – as I know they are. The world is surely a darker place without Jim.”
“Thanksgiving: Jim Rill, who recently passed, for doing so much for the antitrust community – at home and abroad. Federal judges – whether or not we agree – they (almost always) try things fairly and are transparent about their decisions.”
“DOJ Antitrust … for bounties for information on collusion.”
“Centrist competition advocates deserve a lot of credit. Distanced from extreme ideology on the left and right, these leaders stand by the consumer welfare standard and continue to beat the drum for stronger antitrust enforcement in consumer-facing sectors.”
“Judge Boasberg deserves our thanksgiving for ruling against the FTC in its ill-advised case against Meta.”
“Thanksgiving for Judge Boasberg's sound economics-centric Facebook decision…”
“Federal district judges. They are the backbone of our justice system, and most are smart, honest and fair. Read a district court opinion in a litigated antitrust case and, whether you agree or disagree with the conclusion, you are likely to see reasonable and well-supported analysis.”
“Thanksgiving to the DC-area federal court judges for thoughtful, balanced decisions in recent big tech cases.”
“Career attorneys at DOJ/FTC deserve our thanksgiving.”
“I am thankful for the DOJ and FTC staff who kept working non-stop through the shutdown unpaid. They made my life harder by doing their job, but we are a better country for it."
"I am also thankful for the return to closing investigations and not issuing unnecessary Second Requests. I can see the agencies working harder in the first 60 days (even if the default to a pull and refile is way too common) to think critically about what really warrants an investigation; it is a more efficient use of resources that is not creating risk of missed enforcement opportunities.”
Finally, the lumps of coal go to…
“The Supreme Court if they overturn Humphrey’s Executor, to the President for trying to negotiate settlements in his office, and to his predecessor, who through the ‘Competition Council’ incentivized something close to the antitrust agencies reporting to the White House and outsourced antitrust to Elizabeth Warren.”
“The Canadian Parliament … for codifying the 2023 Merger Guidelines as law.”
“Antitrust agency leaders, appointed by both political parties, who think their job is to stake out an antitrust ‘agenda’ to cure society’s perceived ills rather than simply running their agencies efficiently, hiring and retaining the best people, and selecting cases on the basis of sound law and economics. Sexy? No. In the best interests of consumers and the economy? Yes.”
“The individuals responsible for Roger Alford and Bill Rinner’s departures.”
“The FTC Chair for straying farther from core antitrust than need be and using overly harsh rhetoric along the way (and demoralizing staff while at it.)”
“Lump of coal for HPE-Juniper … FTC gets a lump of coal for its reaction to FTC v Meta.”
“The federal agencies for continued pursuit of cases that make no economic sense and for excessive remedial demands in those that do.”
“A giant lump of coal goes to the administration, which uses antitrust enforcement to advance a political agenda.”
“…HPE/Juniper.”
“The recurring 2025 practice of needing to appease supporters of the administration in the form of remedies or off the books commitments to ensure regulatory clearance. It’s not how the system should work and we are all worse for it.”
“DOJ's economically problematic decision to seek breakup remedies in the two Google cases.”
Disclaimer: Responses to The Prompt are solely the anonymized views of individual members of the expert group. The opinions expressed should not be associated with policy positions of the U.S. Chamber, nor should the opinions be attributed to any individual in the group or to any law firm, client, organization, or affiliation an expert may have.
