If one wanted to mark a point as the fall of Brandeisian antitrust, it would be 2004, when the Supreme Court, under Justice Antonin Scalia, elevated what was once called “the evil of monopoly” to something different: an essential motivating factor within the American economy. In an unnecessary aside, Scalia wrote: The mere possession of monopoly power, and the concomitant charging of monopoly prices, is not only not unlawful; it is an important element of the free-market system. The opportunity to charge monopoly prices—at least for a short period—is what attracts “business acumen” in the
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