WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department's top antitrust enforcer said Thursday, one day after Microsoft chairman Bill Gates visited Capitol Hill, that politics had no place in the enforcement of antitrust laws.
On Wednesday, Republican leaders called for an investigation of whether the Justice Department had gone too far in prosecuting Microsoft in a landmark antitrust case, after they met privately with Gates.
Justice Department antitrust chief Joel Klein Thursday took on Capitol Hill in remarks to the American Bar Association at its annual spring meeting in Washington.
Klein also thanked the ABA for its "courageous" support of full funding for the Justice Department Antitrust Division, after Microsoft reportedly lobbied last year for a cut in its appropriation.
Then Klein said: "If Americans are to have confidence in our legal system, the laws must apply to everyone and politics can have no place in the enforcement of the antitrust laws."
Federal District Court Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled on Monday that Microsoft broke antitrust law by competing unfairly, harming consumers and competitors.
Jackson set May 24 for a hearing on penalties to be assessed in the case.
On Wednesday, Republicans talked about the lawsuit in political terms and linked it to the presidential campaign of Democratic Vice President Al Gore.
Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, fourth-ranked member of the House Republican leadership, issued a statement Wednesday saying, "the dive in the Nasdaq market is a direct result of the Clinton-Gore administration meddling with the private sector."
The technology-laden Nasdaq market dropped Monday and Tuesday of this week before making gains Wednesday and Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi said the administration's prosecution of the case deserved a close look by a congressional committee.
"This should be looked into by Congress," Lott said.
During Gates' visit to Washington, he also appeared with President Bill Clinton and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan at a White House conference on the new economy.
