Amazon.com Inc. has petitioned the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to have Lina Khan, the agency’s chair, recused from participating in antitrust investigations that focus on the company.

The 25-page petition became public today. In the document, Amazon is calling for Khan (pictured) to be recused from “any antitrust investigation, adjudication, litigation, or other proceeding in which Amazon is a subject, target or defendant for which Chair Khan’s prior public statements create the appearance of her having prejudged facts and/or legal issues relevant to the proceeding.”

Amazon’s argument is that Khan should be recused because “she has on numerous occasions argued that Amazon is guilty of antitrust violations and should be broken up.” In the petition, the company goes on to charge that “these statements convey to any reasonable observer the clear impression that she has already made up her mind about many material facts relevant to Amazon’s antitrust culpability as well as about the ultimate issue of culpability itself.”

The online retail and technology giant pointed out a number of statements in particular that it believes provide reason for recusal. Some of the statements cited by the company are from an influential 96-page article entitled “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox” that Khan, a prominent antitrust scholar, wrote in a 2017 issue of the Yale Law Journal. In the article, Khan proposed a number of new approaches for regulating Amazon’s market power.

“At a minimum, this record creates the appearance that the FTC, under Chair Khan’s leadership, would not be a neutral and impartial evaluator of the evidence developed in any antitrust investigation against Amazon or in deciding whether to bring enforcement actions against the company,” the company’s petition stated.

To support its argument, Amazon also pointed out that Khan worked as a counsel to the House Judiciary’s antitrust subcommittee from March 2019 to October 2020. During that time, the subcommittee carried out a high-profile investigation of Amazon, Apple Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google LLC. The investigation resulted in a report that found the four companies hold “monopoly power” in their respective market segments.

Amazon’s petition to have Khan recused from antitrust matters related to its business follows reports that the FTC is preparing to launch a review of the company’s proposed $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren has expressed support for the review in a letter to Khan published by The Verge today. In the letter, Warren stated that “the FTC should disfavor approving deals involving parties with a known pattern of inhibiting competition and harming consumers and workers. Allowing such firms to continue buying up competitors would only exacerbate these abuses of market power.”

Tech giants are facing growing scrutiny both in the U.S. and elsewhere. Last week, the House Judiciary passed six antitrust bills that seek to, among others, prohibit tech giants that hold a dominant position in their markets from acquiring firms that pose a competitive threat. 

Earlier, European Union regulators brought antitrust charges against Amazon over the way it handled data belonging to third-party sellers on its e-commerce marketplace. Other tech giants are also facing scrutiny in the bloc, among them Google, whose ad business earlier this month became the focus of a broad antitrust investigation by the European Commission. 

Photo: New America/Flickr