Antitrust chief defends opposition to AT&T-TimeWarner merger

Makan Delrahim, who leads the Justice Department's antitrust division, defended the DOJ's stance on the AT&T-Time Warner deal, which he noted was put together by career antitrust attorneys.

• The deal "would have unlawfully raised prices for cable TV subscribers and harmed online innovation," he said.

He made the case in a speech Tuesday morning that the long-held "consumer welfare standard" that is at the core of antitrust reviews remains the best way to evaluate threats to competition, and that broadening that standard to include the impact on democracy and free speech carries significant risks.

Key quotes:

• Some have argued that the DOJ should use is sizable powers to do what's best for democracy, in addition to focusing narrowly on consumer harm. Delrahim said doing so would "carry too great a risk of undermining constitutional values."
• Prosecutors, he said "carry with them their own perceptions of what is good and bad for democracy."
• The consumer welfare standard, he said, "protects us from the dangers to liberty from well-meaning enforcers," quoting former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis.
• Political positions should have no role in determining antitrust actions, he said, and added that "there could be real risks to core democratic standards in pursuit of broader societal goals."

Go deeper:

• Axios on the possible outcomes: It's judgment day for AT&T's merger with Time Warner
• Politico's Nancy Scola has a detailed look at Delrahim's philosophy