Dropping the baton: The Tipline for 18 March 2021

When the Obama administration handed off Qualcomm to its successor, several officials in the Trump administration made it clear they wanted not only to drop the case, but turn around and run in the opposite direction. Clinging on by the fingertips, career staff at the FTC secured a monumental win only to be trounced on appeal. The Wall Street Journal now reports that the Biden administration would prefer to end the race here rather than compound its losses before the Supreme Court. In other appellate antitrust news, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has taken a second dose of Vitamin C.