In this Capitol Forum podcast, Executive Editor Teddy Downey speaks with Catherine Simonsen—co-founder of the newly launched Simonson Susman LLP and former FTC antitrust enforcer—about the long-neglected Robinson-Patman Act.

Together, they dissect how underenforcement of price discrimination laws has contributed to excessive consolidation, economic rent extraction, and the quiet hollowing-out of American small businesses.

Simonson outlines legal strategies to revive these laws and challenge dominant “power buyers” like Walmart and Amazon, and explains how price discrimination distorts the supply chain from producer to pharmacy shelf. This is antitrust not as theory, but as practice.

Generative AI is testing the limits of copyright law — and the courts are starting to weigh in.

Teddy Downey speaks with Keith Kupferschmid, CEO of the Copyright Alliance, about:

The legal stakes of AI training on copyrighted works

-Conflicting rulings in California courts

-How the Warhol decision could influence AI copyright cases

-The importance of a healthy licensing market

-What’s at risk for creators and the economy

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In this episode, Capitol Forum’s Nate Soderstrom sits down with Jeremy Sanford, partner at Econic Partners and former FTC economist, to discuss his new paper on the 2015 Steris/Synergy merger—a key potential competition case that was litigated but allowed to proceed.

Jeremy walks through:

Why the FTC brought the case

-The court’s reasoning in denying the injunction

-What we’ve learned from 10 years of post-merger evidence

-How this case fits into broader merger enforcement and guideline updates

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In this wide-ranging conversation, Capitol Forum Executive Editor Teddy Downey sits down with Beth Baltzan — former Counselor to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai — and Capitol Forum Trade Correspondent Neil Tracey to unpack the latest wave of Trump tariff threats.

We cover:

• Why Trump is targeting an unusual mix of countries
• How rare earths give China lasting leverage
• Whether USMCA will actually be exempted
• The growing influence of Big Tech on trade policy
• Section 301 vs. Section 232: What tools Trump is using — and why
• How global trust in the U.S. rule of law is eroding
• What’s missing from a purely tariff-based industrial strategy
• Why the global trading order may never be the same

Teddy Downey, Executive Editor of The Capitol Forum, sits down with Tahir Amin, co-founder of I-MAK, to discuss the pharmaceutical industry’s misuse of the U.S. patent system—and what it costs American patients and taxpayers.

They dive into I-MAK’s new report, Overpatented, Overpriced, and explore:

• How drugs like Eliquis and Ozempic are protected by dozens to hundreds of patents
• The role of patent term extensions, follow-on patents, and settlement deals in delaying generic competition
• How companies like Novo Nordisk and BMS generate tens of billions in additional revenue through strategic patenting
• Why the Hatch-Waxman Act and USPTO are failing to protect patients and the public interest

 Full report: https://www.i-mak.org/overpatented/

What happens when one company dominates every aspect of an industry—from venues and ticketing to artist access and local politics? In this in-depth interview, The Capitol Forum’s Teddy Downey speaks with Tommy Dorfman, former promoter and now CEO of Juice Entertainment, about his extraordinary 15-year legal battle against Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Dorfman alleges that Live Nation used anti-competitive tactics—backed by its control of Ticketmaster—to force him out of the industry, block access to artists, and coerce state-run venues. His claims include:

Closed-door threats and pressure to enter a forced partnership

A nationwide pattern of leveraging rebates to inflate ticket prices

Control over municipal venues, artist touring, and even event security

As the U.S. Department of Justice pursues its own case against Live Nation, Dorfman makes a broader argument: that monopolistic control in the live events industry suppresses competition, stifles independent promoters, and ultimately harms artists and consumers alike.

A story of market power, legal resilience, and the changing economics of live music.

Ari Paparo has done it all in digital advertising—from DoubleClick and Google to founding Beeswax and covering the DOJ antitrust trial as an independent analyst.

In this conversation with Capitol Forum Executive Editor Teddy Downey, Ari shares his insider take on:

📌 Google’s ad tech dominance

📌 Why publishers lost control

📌 What the DOJ’s remedies get wrong

📌 The real reason Google is fighting so hard

📌 How ad markets could be reformed—and who might fill the vacuum

Ari walks us through the industry's tangled history and what it would take to create a truly open digital ad market.

In this Capitol Forum podcast, Executive Editor Teddy Downey is joined by Jeremy Furchtgott and Riley Kruse of Baron Public Affairs to unpack the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement shaping RFK Jr.’s vision for Health and Human Services. Drawing from their rigorous influencer analytics and new report, they explore:

The shift from academic experts to social media influencers like Tucker Carlson and Russell Brand

Competing schools of thought inside Maha: Big Pharma vs. Big Food

How elite vs. populist divides shape policy priorities

The strange alliance between conservative “crunchy cons,” libertarians, and techno-optimists

What Maha says about vaccines, SNAP food policy, pharma ad bans, and the future of public health

🔗 Don’t miss this deep dive into the information ecosystem redefining conservative health policy, learn more here: https://thecapitolforum.com/resources/analyzing-maha-influencers-shaping-rfk-jr-s-hhs-agenda/