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109 Mich. L. Rev. 683 (2010-2011)
The Case for Rebalancing Antitrust Regulation

handle is hein.journals/mlr109 and id is 693 raw text is: THE CASE FOR REBALANCING ANTITRUST AND REGULATION Howard A. Shelanski* The Supreme Court's decisions in Verizon v. Trinko and Credit Suisse v. Billing reduced the reach of antitrust law in regulated in- dustries; they did so even where Congress expressly preserved antitrust enforcement, and even though the Court itself had long declined to block antitrust suits against regulated firms except in unusual circumstances. This Article analyzes the reasoning and po- tential consequences of Trinko and Credit Suisse. It provides a critique of the Supreme Court's redrawing of the relationship be- tween antitrust and regulation and explains how Trinko and Credit Suisse could saddle regulators with a choice between inefficiently strong and overly weak regulation as economic conditions change in regulated industries. The Article concludes that consumers and industry would benefit from a rebalancing of antitrust and regula- tion and discusses several possible means to that end. TABLE OF CONTENTS IN TRODUCTION ......................................................................................684 I. THE DOCTRINAL EVOLUTION OF REGULATORY IMMUNITY FROM ANTITRUST LAW............................................................. 685 A. Antitrust and Regulation Before 2004............................... 687 1. Implied Immunity Without a Savings Clause .............. 687 2. Immunity and Statutes with an Antitrust Savings Clause............................................................ 689 B. Antitrust and Regulation After 2004.................................. 693 1. Verizon v. Trinko......................................................... 693 2. Credit Suisse v. Billing ............................................... 706 C. The Court's Underlying Rationale: Overemphasis on O verenforcem ent? ............................................................. 710 1. Overemphasis on False Positives: Some Evidence .....711 2. Public Versus Private Antitrust Actions......................713 II. DO TRINKO AND CREDIT SUISSE MAKE A DIFFERENCE?..... 714 * Deputy Director, Bureau of Economics, Federal Trade Commission; Professor of Law, Georgetown University (on leave). This Article represents my personal views and not necessarily those of the FTC. I am grateful to Jon Baker, Bill Bratton, Julie Cohen, Rob Davis, Einer Elhauge, Bill Kovacic, Steve Salop, Catherine Sharkey, Phil Weiser, Kathy Zeiler, and workshop participants at Emory University, Georgetown University, Northwestern University, and the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania for helpful comments and suggestions. 683

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