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The October 1992 Supreme Court Term And Antitrust: More Objectivity Than Ever, Stephen Calkins

Law Faculty Research Publications

Time and again the Rehnquist Court has favored antitrust certainty. When faced with a choice between achieving individualized justice and adhering to relatively clear, generalized rules, it has usually chosen the latter. The certainty of objective evidence has been preferred to the more customized resort to subjective evidence.

This pattern continued during the 1992-93 term. Perceived objectivity through generalized rules triumphed in the term's four antitrust cases, Professional Real Estate Investors, Inc. v. Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Spectrum Sports, Inc. v. McQuillan, Hartford Fire Insurance Co. v. California, and Brooke Group Ltd. v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco …