Philip Hart

Hart was a principal Senate sponsor of the 1976 Hart-Scott-Rodino reforms, which required advance notification of qualifying mergers and a waiting period for review. The change addressed a practical weakness: restoring competition after firms had combined could be extremely difficult. His role was legislative sponsorship and negotiation, shared with Hugh Scott and Peter Rodino. It shows how procedural powers can matter as much as changing the substantive definition of an unlawful merger.