Attorney General Ken Paxton has always been a strident conservative leader. His battles against President Obama on Obamacare and against President Biden’s border policies demonstrate his commitment to keeping America great.
Paxton also stuck to conservative values by declining the Biden Administration’s request to join the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit against Apple. Although presented by Biden's lawyers as a bipartisan antitrust effort, the lawsuit amounts to nothing more than left-wing politics. The DOJ Antitrust Division’s mission is to protect free market competition. Now, Biden-appointee Jonathan Kanter, with the help of Federal Trade Commission chairwoman Lina Khan, wants to wield federal antitrust authority for progressive political ends.
Kanter subscribes to a legal school of thought that seeks to expand antitrust authority beyond free markets to other ends like social justice. Lina Khan also expressed her intention to go beyond the law when she stated that “focusing antitrust exclusively on consumer welfare is a mistake.” In other words, they intend to harness antitrust power for their liberal agenda. That’s why they are pursuing an antitrust case against Apple even though the company has less than a 20% share of the global smartphone market. Their work isn’t about breaking up monopolies, it’s about expanding a left-wing power grab over the free market.
That’s why I scratched my head when I saw that Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond accepted the Biden DOJ’s request to join the lawsuit. On the surface, AG Drummond seems well-equipped to defend against the Biden administration’s liberal politics. He’s a decorated Air Force pilot, former assistant AG for Pawnee and Osage Counties, and founder of Drummond Law. He established an Organized Crime Task Force to crack down on drug and human trafficking, and he’s also done a lot to protect Oklahoma businesses from liberal red tape. Nevertheless, he joined the Biden DOJ’s weak, politically motivated lawsuit against Apple.
Conservatives have watched Joe Biden turn the DOJ into his own political enforcement agency over the last few years. His lawyers have targeted Trump supporters and even tried to take away President Trump’s First Amendment right to free speech. There is no reason that AG Drummond should be partnering with the Biden DOJ on anything, let alone a weak case like this Apple lawsuit that’s being used to score political points. As a Texan, I’m proud that our Attorney General did not fall prey to Biden’s seduction when OK AG Drummond did.
The DOJ’s lawsuit against Apple amounts to nothing more than President Biden placating the progressive wing of his party as election season starts to heat up. Politics aside, as one of the brightest legal minds in the country, Drummond should have known that the case does not stand up to legal scrutiny. First and foremost, most courts level antitrust litigation against companies with 70% or more market share, and Apple only has about 20% market share globally. The lawsuit attempts to paint Apple’s small design choices and security and privacy guidelines as tools to trap consumers when, in reality, they protect consumers. At the end of the day, the Biden Administration thinks that they, with government intervention, can design a better smartphone than Apple.
The case also threatens Americans’ retirement. According to the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), antitrust litigation like the DOJ’s case drains money out of pensions. The DOJ’s unnecessary litigation threatens to tank Apple’s market value, thereby reducing the value of pension plans heavily invested in the company. If the DOJ wins and Apple’s business suffers, each Oklahoma pension holder could lose over $1,500 and pension holders across the country could lose $27.5 billion. By rejecting Biden’s request, AG Paxton protected Texans’ investments and prevented Biden from undermining the livelihoods of all Texans. It’s strange that AG Drummond is helping Biden undermine the retirement accounts of hard-working Sooners.
After reading the lawsuit, it’s clear that President Biden sees this lawsuit as an opportunity to show that he’s doing something on antitrust without actually doing anything. Where are the antitrust cases against the monopolies that are price-gouging food, airline tickets, or broadband prices? In Biden’s Washington, it’s not about tackling real issues for the American people. It’s all politics.
Texas AG Paxton is a beacon of light amidst the liberal DC chaos. On the other hand, AG Drummond’s decision to support Biden’s political lawsuit puts his conservative values in question and threatens the well-being of all Sooners.
About the Author
Frank Corte, Jr. served in the Texas House from 1993-2011 and is a graduate of the Army War College.
