Profile of Phil Weiser, a law professor, antitrust expert, and Colorado's AG who is co-leading the bipartisan coalition of state AGs investigating Google
Context & Ripple Effects
The state-level antitrust push against Google began in September 2019, when attorneys general from nearly every state launched a joint investigation after reports that more than half of them were preparing one (preparing the antitrust investigation). By October 2020, with the DOJ filing its own imminent suit, Democratic and GOP state AGs made clear they would press on independently rather than defer to Washington (continue their own investigation after the DOJ files).
This profile lands at that pivot point: Phil Weiser — a law professor and antitrust specialist turned Colorado AG — is the co-leader holding that bipartisan coalition together, giving the states' effort its intellectual spine just as it becomes a parallel front to the federal case.
First-order effects
- Google now faces a coordinated two-front legal fight: the DOJ's suit on one side and Weiser's multi-state coalition on the other, each able to pursue different theories of harm.
- Weiser's academic antitrust background signals the state probe will be built on formal economic analysis rather than political positioning — raising the bar for whatever evidence the coalition brings to court.
Second-order effects
- Google's defense apparatus, led by top lawyer Kent Walker — who negotiated the 2013 FTC settlement (helped negotiate the 2013 FTC settlement) — has to manage settlements and negotiations across dozens of separate AG offices, multiplying leverage points for the states.
- The coalition's earlier friction over outside consultants, resolved when Google reached a settlement with the AGs on that issue (settlement over outside consultants), shows how even the investigative process itself became a negotiated battleground.
Third-order effects
- With antitrust-minded figures rising on both fronts — Kanter, who built his career on anti-Google work for Microsoft clients, nominated to run the DOJ's antitrust division (nominated to lead DOJ antitrust) — enforcement against large platforms is becoming institutionalized across federal and state levels regardless of which party holds power.
- If the bipartisan state model holds, future platform investigations are likely to be structured as standing multi-state coalitions rather than one-off suits, changing how tech companies budget for regulatory risk.
The trend: Antitrust enforcement against Big Tech is shifting from episodic federal lawsuits to a durable, bipartisan structure spanning state AG coalitions and ideologically aligned DOJ leadership.