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To: D.B. Cooper who wrote (2587)	6/28/2001 2:04:38 PM
From: Venkie	Respond to of 13815

Bush Awaits Microsoft Review By SANDRA SOBIERAJ, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush (news - web sites) will not take any action on Thursday's appeals court reversal of the court-ordered breakup of software giant Microsoft until the Justice Department (news - web sites) analyzes the decision. ``The Justice Department is going to review the decision, they're studying it now,'' White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (news - web sites) told reporters minutes after the federal appeals court ruling was announced. ``The president has been informed. The president is going to have further discussions and will await Justice Department review and study.'' On Capitol Hill, lawmakers were far less circumspect. Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., whose Seattle-area district includes the sprawling Microsoft campus, called the ruling a ``stunning victory'' and said he hoped it would spur the Bush administration to open settlement talks with Microsoft and its billionaire chairman, Bill Gates (news - web sites). ``Now it leaves room to fashion a resolution of this that continues to allow Microsoft the ability to innovate and improve its products while honoring the government's concerns about conduct-related activity,'' Inslee said. House Majority Leader Dick Armey applauded the appeals court for sending the message ``that innovation in America will be rewarded, not punished.'' ``Our antitrust laws should not be used to hold our most successful companies back to give the competition a chance to catch up,'' said Armey, R-Texas. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites) for the District of Columbia upheld a lower court's conclusion last year that Microsoft violated antitrust laws. But, by a 7-0 vote, the appeals court ordered that a new judge decide what penalty the company should face because U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson gave the appearance he was biased against Microsoft. Since Bush took office in January, more than seven months after Penfield's breakup order, he has given no indication of how he would handle the mammoth suit he inherited from President Clinton (news - web sites) except to say that he is, in general, ``unsympathetic'' to lawsuits. Fleischer underlined that point Thursday: ``The president believes people should work hard to enter into agreements and the president believes there's too much litigation in our society, generally speaking.'' The spokesman added that it is ``too soon to make any conclusions'' about the future course of this case. Microsoft was one of a dozen corporate sponsors of a $20 million Republican Party fund-raising dinner that Bush attended Wednesday night.