By Nikhila Natarajan

New York, Oct 21 (IANS): Amit P. Mehta, an Indian American US district judge, has been assigned the Justice Department's landmark lawsuit against Google, which is the US government's most aggressive antitrust case in the tech sector in more than two decades.

Mehta was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on December 22, 2014.

Recently, Mehta had ruled that US President Donald Trump couldn't block a subpoena from a House committee seeking financial records from his accounting firm. That case continues to be litigated after being referred to the Supreme Court.

Born in India, Mehta has an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in 1993 and later studied law at the University of Virginia School of Law.

After law school, Mehta began his career in a San Francisco law firm before clerking in the Ninth Circuit court. Mehta went on to work at the Washington D.C.-based law firm Zuckerman Spaeder LLP where his practice focused on white-collar criminal defence, complex business disputes, and appellate advocacy. He also worked as a public defender in Washington for five years.

In a 64-page complaint with 194 numbered items, the US Justice Department and 11 states sued Google on October 20 for antitrust violations, alleging that it weaponised its dominance in online search and advertising to kill off competition and harm consumers.

Google's response, via tweet, points to the fierce opposition it plans to serve up: "Today's lawsuit by the Department of Justice is deeply flawed. People use Google because they choose to -- not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives."