She wants to be really sure that there's no inconsistencies. Microsoft is going to appeal anyway, but one of the things they would say is that she's being inconsistent.

199

Judge Jackson's ruling contains no legal analysis. I thought the judge would explain why his order was consistent with precedent. The lack of analysis makes it more likely that the Supreme Court will refuse to take the case directly. Jackson issued the ruling too fast.

196

I would expect Bush to appoint an assistant attorney general for antitrust who would settle for wimpy relief, but then you still have the 19 states suing, so it would be up to them.

185

It's not that likely that the Supreme Court will take the case. This law has only been used two times - both times in the AT&T antitrust case - so it's rarely, rarely used.

156

These are some of the most conservative judges in the country. Ginsburg, in particular, used to head the antitrust division under the Reagan administration, so to say that he is antitrust-savvy is an understatement; the man knows antitrust law backwards and forwards.

144

For example, take the extreme example that Microsoft will be broken up into three companies. That won't happen until the appeals are exhausted. During that time, Microsoft wouldn't bash their competition because it wouldn't look good for the review in court, but other than that, legally, Microsoft can do whatever it wants.

142

If all she was going to do was rubber-stamp the settlement between the Department of Justice and Microsoft and say that the states get nothing, she could have done that in two or three months. I think it means the states are going to get something.

110

It might not be resolved for another two years. No one should count their winnings yet.

99

If you're really, really conservative, then you start with a very strong attitude that companies should be allowed to do whatever they want and the government shouldn't interfere with that. If you fix prices, that's a different story, but we're talking about behavior that isn't clear cut like price fixing.

87