The Honorable Douglas H. Ginsburg to Receive Justice Department's 2020 John Sherman Award

The Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice will present Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg with the John Sherman Award for his lifetime contributions to the development of antitrust law and the preservation of economic liberty.  Judge Ginsburg will deliver remarks and receive the award during a ceremony on May 8, 2020, in the Great Hall of the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building.  

“Judge Ginsburg’s role in the advancement of antitrust law and policy cannot be overstated,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “It is a privilege for the division to recognize his career and achievements with this award.  Judge Ginsburg’s leadership in the Antitrust Division, as well as his incisive and cogent scholarship, has brought sound economic analysis to the forefront of antitrust law.  His contributions have greatly improved the ability of antitrust law to protect consumer welfare and to spur economic growth.”

Created in 1994, the John Sherman Award is presented by the Justice Department's Antitrust Division to a person or persons for outstanding contributions to the field of antitrust law, the protection of American consumers, and the preservation of economic liberty.

Judge Ginsburg received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago.  Following law school, Judge Ginsburg clerked for Judge Carl McGowan of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.  He joined the faculty at Harvard Law School from 1975 to 1983, before serving as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Regulatory Affairs, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, from 1983 to 1984; Administrator, Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, from 1984 to 1985; and Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, from 1985 to 1986.  Judge Ginsburg was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in November 1986 and served as Chief Judge from July 2001 until February 2008.  Concurrent with his service on the federal bench, Judge Ginsburg has taught at the University of Chicago Law School and the New York University School of Law. He is currently a Professor of Law at the Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University, and a visiting professor at the University College London, Faculty of Laws. 

Judge Ginsburg’s efforts to incorporate economic analysis in antitrust enforcement is instrumental to how agencies and practitioners approach antitrust law today.  Of his many notable contributions, Judge Ginsburg elevated the role of economic analysis in antitrust enforcement by expanding the Division’s economics section and by creating the position of the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economic Analysis during his tenure as the Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division.  Through his work with the Global Antitrust Institute at the Antonin Scalia Law School, Judge Ginsburg is renowned for helping international enforcers and judges apply economic insights in competition law.   Judge Ginsburg’s jurisprudence and scholarship further reflect the intellectual rigor that has marked his distinguished career.  He was an influential judge on the landmark United States v. Microsoft case in 2001, and the case remains foundational to understanding competition in high-tech markets. Judge Ginsburg’s scholarship is widely admired, and his academic works — ranging in topic from the application of antitrust law in a changing economy to the effects of extra-jurisdictional remedies — tackle complex questions and continue to influence students, enforcers, and practitioners alike. 

The award is named for the author of the Sherman Act of 1890, the nation's first and foremost antitrust law. John Sherman, a former congressman and senator, also served as Secretary of the Treasury from 1877 to 1881 and as Secretary of State from 1897 to 1898. Previous recipients have included Diane P. Wood (2015), James F. Rill (2012), Robert Pitofsky (2010), Herbert Hovenkamp (2008), Robert H. Bork (2005), Richard A. Posner (2003), Milton Handler (1998), Thomas Kauper and William Baxter (1996), Phillip Areeda (1995), and Howard Metzenbaum (1994).