“Conservatives for Property Rights commends the Committee for Justice for its vision and leadership in creating the Alliance on Antitrust coalition. CPR is proud to join the Alliance on Antitrust because the consumer welfare standard has served our nation well. It promotes competition by ensuring rules of the road for competitors and the ability of the marketplace to operate fairly. It’s compatible with both dynamic competition where innovation and IP exclusivity are involved, as well as with static competition in mature markets and sectors. It also advances the rule of law and serves the vital interests of property rights. We look forward to participating in the coalition’s efforts.” 

— James Edwards, Executive Director, Conservatives for Property Rights

“The antitrust laws are the ‘magna carta of free enterprise.’ The rise of the consumer welfare standard brought the rule of law to American antitrust jurisprudence and harnessed government power to ensure its application would protect consumer sovereignty and to allow citizens to benefit from competition in free markets. Radical proposals to weaponize antitrust law to achieve political goals threaten to unwind this key victory. Where there are abuses outside the antitrust framework, other remedies are available and appropriate, but the antitrust laws should stay focused on their intended purposes. Inappropriate expansion of these laws would leave consumers and conservatives substantially worse off. The American Conservative Union is pleased to join the Alliance on Antitrust's efforts to maintain modern antitrust’s focus on consumer welfare”

— Daniel Schneider, Executive Director, American Conservative Union

"In the United States, we champion successes. Antitrust should never be used, or threatened, as a political tool because politicians fear influence or think that people can be too successful. Any antitrust action should be based solely on bona fide violations of antitrust laws, which require proof of economic injury to consumers through reductions in competition. Competition and disruptive innovation are the best protectors of consumers, not antitrust. Since the advent of the internet, we have seen a series of technology companies and platforms rise and fall. The ongoing competition to stay on top, with new disruptors emerging seemingly every day, has protected consumers better than any government intervention ever could."

— Lisa B. Nelson, CEO, ALEC

“Lone Star Policy Institute is pleased to be part of the efforts of the Alliance on Antitrust to preserve the proper role of antitrust enforcement. We are witnessing troubling calls to break up large, successful American companies merely because of size, or to score political points. Preserving the consumer welfare standard limits politicization of antitrust enforcement, fosters innovation, and ensures consumer welfare is considered. The Lone Star Policy Institute is an independent think tank that promotes freedom and prosperity for all Texans. We advance public policy solutions that encourage Texans’ enterprising spirit, expand personal and economic freedom, and improve the quality of life for the people of Texas. LSPI is directed by Doug McCullough, a mergers and acquisitions attorney with over twenty years of legal experience.”

— Doug McCullough, Director, Lone Star Policy Institute

“For generations, antitrust laws have been used to deprive successful and hardworking business owners of the fruits of their labor and their rights to economic liberty. In recent years, the ‘consumer welfare’ standard helped prevent those kinds of abuses and to encourage a consumer-friendly and competitive economy.  But now a new generation of political activists—on both the left and right—are trying to eliminate or change that standard, and revive an outmoded, irrational, and restrictive antitrust policy that would hinder innovation and violate the fundamental rights of free speech and economic liberty. The Goldwater Institute is pleased to join the Alliance on Antitrust to stand for free markets and economic freedom at both the state and federal levels.”

— Timothy Sandefur, Vice President for Litigation, Goldwater Institute

"Antitrust is a potent legal weapon that has long been properly confined for use only when particular economic harms can be proven. Those who would expand its scope would be opening a Pandora's Box that could have dire consequences throughout our economy. FreedomWorks is glad to work with the Alliance on Antitrust to preserve free markets and competition against the reckless use of antitrust enforcement."

— Josh Withrow, Senior Policy Analyst, FreedomWorks

“Over the last 50 years, the change from using antitrust as a political tool to a neutral legal process that is concerned about consumer welfare is worth celebrating. Removing the artificial restrictions on business growth has led to higher quality goods and services at lower prices, which benefits consumers greatly. American antitrust law continues to rightly protect the admirable goal of consumer welfare. That’s what makes the calls by many state officials to go back to using antitrust to achieve political ends so troubling. Government should be focused on the well-being of all Americans, not using its powers to achieve its own preferred ends. The Pelican Center for Technology and Innovation is proud to join this new coalition.”

— Eric Peterson, Director of the Pelican Center for Technology and Innovation

“Antitrust law in the United States operates under the consumer welfare standard, meaning that individuals, not bureaucrats, get to decide which companies succeed and which ones fail. This standard rejects the idea that big businesses should be targeted simply because they are big. This means that dominant firms will not be targeted by the government unless they use their power to harm consumers. Unfortunately, a populist undercurrent in American politics seeks to weaponize antitrust law against some of America’s greatest success stories.”

— Katie McAuliffe, Executive Director, Digital Liberty

"Instead of pursuing a light-touch approach to antitrust enforcement, some policymakers from across the ideological spectrum are increasingly agitating to use antitrust law as a political weapon against perceived foes. The Alliance on Antitrust can play an important role in persuading lawmakers and regulators to avoid pursuits that would harm American economic growth and recovery, and National Taxpayers Union is pleased to join this new coalition." 

— Pete Sepp, President, National Taxpayers Union

“Over the past few decades, a welcome consensus has emerged among policymakers that business deals benefiting consumers shouldn’t be vetoed by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, some lawmakers want to do away with this consumer welfare standard and replace it with an onerous politicized process. The Alliance on Antitrust opposes this misguided push and recognizes that using antitrust as a political tool will lead to a less vibrant economy and diminished choice and competition. The Taxpayers Protection Alliance is proud to join the Alliance on Antitrust  and looks forward to helping make the case for a fair regulatory system.”

— David Williams, President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance

“Citizens Against Government Waste is pleased to join the Alliance on Antirust. The antitrust laws are intended to promote competition and protect consumers from harm. They should not be used to achieve unrelated political objectives.  Unnecessary and unwarranted legislation and regulation of legitimate and competitive businesses will stifle innovation and harm consumers and competition, usurping the purpose of the antitrust laws.” 

— Thomas A. Schatz, President, Citizens Against Government Waste

"The Innovation Defense Foundation is pleased to join the Alliance on Antitrust, a project of the Committee for Justice championing the consumer welfare standard as the foundation of antitrust enforcement. Without a clear indication of consumer harm, the government should not intervene in the marketplace. The so-called Hipster Antitrust movement is pressing to change this, weaponizing antitrust with sweeping new government controls on American business. The appropriate role for antitrust is to protect competition in the marketplace and the consumer welfare standard is the most effective tool to do so. Abandoning the consumer welfare standard for expansive new government powers poses a real threat to consumers, innovation, and economic growth while expanding the administrative state."

— Dr. Wayne Brough, President, Innovation Defense Foundation

“The free market, limited government view of antitrust has always been that it is a specific tool only to be used precisely and carefully to address demonstrated consumer harm from monopoly market power. And in a dynamic, innovation economy, real monopoly power almost never happens, so antitrust should be used sparingly. Nowhere in that principled understanding is their room to use antitrust as a cudgel for political purposes to threaten companies in a competitive marketplace, and so we at the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) look with dismay upon the actions of elected officials who either have no understanding of antitrust, or who disregard principle for political expediency. And if you want a chuckle sometime, you don’t have to look that far back to find impassioned demands that MySpace be prosecuted for excessive market power under antitrust.”

— Tom Giovanetti, President, Institute for Policy Innovation

“Antitrust being used as a neutral tool focused on consumer welfare has been a significant factor in the increase in the quality of life for Americans over the last 40 years. Rather than focusing on irrelevant factors like firm size, focusing on the consumer has allowed for Americans to experience higher quality goods they want at lower prices. The consumer welfare standard for antitrust laws in the United States is one of the important reasons why so many firms want to open their doors here. Antitrust should never be used to achieve political goals and the government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers through antitrust. The Libertas Institute is excited to join this new coalition and continue the conversation on such an important issue.”  

— James Czerniawski, Tech and Innovation Policy Analyst, Libertas Institute

“The Consumer Choice Center is delighted to join the Alliance on Antitrust to defend the interests of consumers. Antirust attacks on tech firms from regulators are woefully misguided. Modern consumers are enriched by the various goods and services offered by our very robust and competitive technology sector. There has never been a better time to be a consumer and user of digital products online, thanks to the innovations and risks taken by firms who want to offer the best to their customers. At the same time, competition is healthy enough that consumers have plenty of options available to them. This is why American tech companies are the envy of the world, and why using the tool of antitrust law to confront them is a bad approach. Existing laws that prevent outright fraud, data leaks, and abuse by companies are vital and should be enforced. But in today’s political environment, consumers are not served by a hostile Congress that is eager to intervene in the diverse market by way of antitrust laws.”

— Yaël Ossowski, Deputy Director, Consumer Choice Center