米国DOJと並ぶ独禁当局FTCの委員長にリナ・カーン女史が任命され、多くの驚きの声が聞かれる。
すでに多数報道されているが、6月15日米議会上院での委員承認（69対28票での超党派での支持を取り付けた）を受け、バイデン大統領は空席となっていたFTC委員長にリナ・カーン氏を指名した。委員、委員長いずれとしても最年少（32歳）での就任となる。同氏はアマゾンなどGAFAなどTech giaintsへの規制強化派として知られる。ロンドン生まれのパキスタン移民一家。コロンビア大学法科大学院准教授。
FTCは委員長を含め５人の委員で構成され多数決で決まる。今回の任命で３名が民主党となり、まもなく任期満了の２人の委員人事が次の焦点となる。カーン氏は反トラスト法の強い執行を目指すであろうが、今後議会でどう支持を取り付けるかはまだ読みづらい。
FTCの公式発表プレスは
Lina Khan Sworn in as Chair of the FTC
June 15, 2021
Lina Khan was sworn in today as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission. President Biden named Khan, a Democrat, to a term on the Commission that expires September 25, 2024, and designated her as Chair. Khan was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 15, 2021.
“It is a tremendous honor to have been selected by President Biden to lead the Federal Trade Commission,” said Chair Khan. “I look forward to working with my colleagues to protect the public from corporate abuse. I’m very grateful to Acting Chairwoman Slaughter for her outstanding stewardship of the Commission."
Prior to becoming Chair of the FTC, Khan was an Associate Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. She also previously served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, legal adviser to FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, and legal director at the Open Markets Institute.
Photo: Unsplash Ian Hutchinson
Khan’s scholarship on antitrust and competition policy has been published in the Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, and Yale Law Journal. She is a graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School.