Jonathan Kanter
Jonathan Seth Kanter (born July 30, 1973) is an American antitrust lawyer who was confirmed by the United States Senate as the assistant attorney general of the Department of Justice Antitrust Division on November 16, 2021. Early life and education. Jonathan Seth Kanter was born in New York City in 1973. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University at Albany, SUNY and a Juris Doctor from the Washington University School of Law. Career. From 1998 to 2000, Kanter served as an attorney in the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). From 2000 to 2007, he was an  associate at Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson. He was an associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft from 2007 to 2016. In August 2016, Kanter became a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He founded the Kanter Law Group in 2020. Throughout his career, Kanter has been a critic of Big Tech. Kanter has questioned the value of the dominant "consumer welfare standard" in antitrust policy, arguing that the purpose of antitrust enforcement "is not to decide what is maximally efficient, but to enforce the law". Biden administration. On July 20, 2021, Kanter was nominated to serve as assistant attorney general  in the Department of Justice Antitrust Division. His nomination has been endorsed by nine former assistant attorneys general for the Antitrust Division, including Makan Delrahim, who served in the position under Donald Trump. On October 6, 2021, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Judiciary Committee. On October 28, 2021, his nomination was favorably reported out of committee. His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate by a vote of 68–29. Tenure. As assistant attorney general, Kanter has collaborated with FTC Chair Lina Khan on efforts to reform federal merger guidelines. This has been described as  a signal that both agencies are set to intensify their scrutiny of big mergers.