Lina Khan—Internal FTC emails revealed Khan intentionally brought losing cases to signal Congress needs new laws
At a 2022 conference, Khan stated that if agencies 'think that current law might make it difficult to reach, there's a huge benefit to still trying,' adding that courtroom losses would signal to Congress that lawmakers need to update antitrust law. Internal emails showed career FTC staff concern that 'Chair Khan did not want the FTC to be successful and purposefully put staff in a position to complete poor work product.' One manager wrote that Khan wants to appear 'aggressive' but is acting 'with little regard for the consequences of losing in a way that negatively affects the enforcement agenda.'
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government Ethics & Anti-Corruption | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -1.144 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.57)
Evidence (1 signal)
Khan stated courtroom losses would signal Congress to update antitrust law
At a 2022 conference, Khan said if agencies 'think that current law might make it difficult to reach, there's a huge benefit to still trying,' adding that courtroom losses would signal to Congress that lawmakers need to update antitrust law. Internal emails showed career staff concern that Khan 'did not want the FTC to be successful.'