On May 24, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its unanimous decision in American Needle, fittingly written by retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.1 Justice Stevens began his career as an antitrust lawyer in Chicago. Contrary to Justice Stevens’ perception that during his tenure he stood still while the Court moved to the right, his antitrust viewpoint remained firmly anchored throughout his 35 years on the Supreme Court. Antitrust jurisprudence has been shaped and forever changed by Justice Stevens, and while all that he has contributed to the understanding of antitrust law cannot be expressed fully by this column, what follows is a highlight reel of Justice Stevens’ notable contributions to antitrust stare decisis.
Antitrust Experience
Serendipitously, Justice Stevens’ legal career began and ended with his focus on antitrust. After law school and a clerkship at the Supreme Court for Justice Wiley Rutledge, Justice Stevens took a position at a Chicago law firm practicing antitrust law. He left private practice briefly in 1951 to serve as associate counsel to the Subcommittee on the Study of Monopoly Power of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington D.C. He continued his focus on antitrust cases when he started his own Chicago law firm with some friends in 1952.
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