Senate Confirms Jonathan Kanter as Justice Department Antitrust Chief

The Senate confirmed Jonathan Kanter as the Justice Department’s top antitrust official, adding a pro-enforcement lawyer to a Biden-administration team that has already been aggressive in addressing what it sees as threats to competition. Kanter, 48, was confirmed on a bipartisan 68-29 vote, as Democrats and some Republicans believe antitrust enforcers should be doing more to protect competition in the marketplace, including in technology sector, agriculture and healthcare. Mr. Kanter has seen two decades of antitrust battles from several vantage points. His early career was at the Federal Trade Commission, which shares antitrust authority with the Justice Department. He then spent about 20 years in private practice representing a range of corporate clients. Over time his focus shifted from defending companies facing government investigations to representing clients who urged the government to take action against industry giants, especially top tech companies. Both he and Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan have argued that the antitrust agencies need to do more to prevent companies from acquiring too much power in the marketplace.