Solicitor General of the United States

United States Solicitor General
Seal of the Department of Justice
Incumbent Elena Kagan since 19 March 2009
Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General
Formation	October 1870 Prior to this date, the Attorney General exercised most of the duties now performed by the Solicitor General.
First holder	Benjamin Bristow
Website	Office of the Solicitor General

Organization of Solicitor General's Office

The United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to argue for the Government of the United States in front of the Supreme Court of the United States whenever the government is party to a case. Currently, the Solicitor General is Elena Kagan, who was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 19, 2009.

The Solicitor General advocates a legal position based upon the President's political position. In addition to actually arguing before the Court, the Solicitor General's office files amicus curiae briefs in virtually every case of significance to the federal government, regardless of whether the government is directly involved.

Significance

The Solicitor General, who has offices in the Supreme Court Building as well as the Department of Justice Headquarters, has been called the "10th justice" due to the relationship of mutual respect that inevitably develops between the justices and the Solicitor General (and their respective staffs of clerks and deputies). As the most frequent advocate before the Court, the Solicitor General generally argues dozens of times each term, whereas even experienced private Supreme Court litigators may make fewer than ten appearances in their careers. As a result, the Solicitor General tends to remain particularly comfortable during oral arguments that other advocates would find intimidating. Furthermore, when the Solicitor General's office endorses a petition for certiorari, review is frequently granted, which is remarkable given that only 75–125 of the over 7,500 petitions submitted each term are granted review by the Court.

Other than the justices themselves, the Solicitor General is considered among the most influential and knowledgeable members of the legal community with regard to Supreme Court Litigation. Due to the high degree of legal ability and expertise required for this important position, the Office of the Solicitor General is generally considered to be the highest office for a practicing lawyer in the United States, as opposed to the Office of the Attorney General, which while always held by a lawyer, is more of an administrative, political office. Not surprisingly, many who have worked as or for the Solicitor General have later been appointed to the Supreme Court.

Within the Justice Department, the Solicitor General exerts significant influence on all appeals brought by the department. Whenenever the DOJ wins at the trial stage and the losing party appeals, the concerned division of the DOJ responds automatically and proceeds to defend the ruling in the appellate process. However, if the DOJ is the losing party at the trial stage, an appeal can only be brought with the permission of the Solicitor General. For example, should the tort division lose a jury trial in federal district court, that ruling cannot be appealed by the Appellate Office without the approval of the Solicitor General.

Traditions

Several traditions have developed since the Office of Solicitor General was established in 1870. Most obviously to spectators at oral argument before the Court, the Solicitor General and his or her deputies traditionally appear in formal morning coats. More significantly, the Solicitor General is permitted to "lodge" in the appellate record new evidence that would ordinarily not be considered by the justices. Another tradition, possibly unique to the United States, is the Solicitor General's right and practice of confession of judgment: the Solicitor General can simply drop a case if he considers the government's prior official position to be unjust, even if the government has already won in lower court.

Solicitors General since 1870

Solicitor General	Date of Service	Appointing President
Benjamin H. Bristow	October 1870–November 1872	Ulysses Grant
Samuel F. Phillips	November 1872–May 1885
John Goode (Acting)	May 1885–August 1886	Grover Cleveland
George A. Jenks	July 1886–May 1889
Orlow W. Chapman	May 1889–January 1890	Benjamin Harrison
William Howard Taft	February 1890–March 1892
Charles H. Aldrich	March 1892–May 1893
Lawrence Maxwell, Jr.	April 1893–January 1895	Grover Cleveland
Holmes Conrad	February 1895–July 1897
John K. Richards	July 1897–March 1903	William McKinley
Henry M. Hoyt	February 1903–March 1909	Theodore Roosevelt
Lloyd Wheaton Bowers	April 1909–September 1910	William Taft
Frederick W. Lehmann	December 1910–July 1912
William Marshall Bullitt	July 1912–March 1913
John W. Davis	August 1913–November 1918	Woodrow Wilson
Alexander C. King	November 1918–May 1920
William L. Frierson	June 1920–June 1921
James M. Beck	June 1921–June 1925	Warren Harding
William D. Mitchell	June 1925–March 1929	Calvin Coolidge
Charles Evans Hughes, Jr	May 1929–April 1930	Herbert Hoover
Thomas D. Thacher	March 1930–May 1933
James Crawford Biggs	May 1933–March 1935	Franklin Roosevelt
Stanley Reed	March 1935–January 1938
Robert H. Jackson	March 1938–January 1940
Francis Biddle	January 1940–September 1941
Charles H. Fahy	November 1941–September 1945
J. Howard McGrath	October 1945–October 1946	Harry Truman
Philip B. Perlman	July 1947–August 1952
Walter J. Cummings, Jr.	December 1952–March 1953
Simon Sobeloff	February 1954–July 1956	Dwight Eisenhower
J. Lee Rankin	August 1956–January 1961
Archibald Cox	January 1961–July 1965	John F. Kennedy
Thurgood Marshall	August 1965–August 1967	Lyndon Johnson
Erwin N. Griswold	October 1967–June 1973
Robert H. Bork	June 1973–January 1977	Richard Nixon
Wade H. McCree	March 1977–August 1981	Jimmy Carter
Rex E. Lee	August 1981–June 1985	Ronald Reagan
Charles Fried	October 1985–January 1989
Kenneth W. Starr	May 1989–January 1993	George H. W. Bush
Drew S. Days, III	May 1993–July 1996	Bill Clinton
Walter E. Dellinger III (acting)	August 1996–October 1997
Seth P. Waxman	November 1997–January 2001
Barbara D. Underwood (acting)	January 2001–June 2001	George W. Bush
Theodore B. Olson	June 2001–July 2004
Paul D. Clement	June 2004–June 2005 (acting) June 2005-June 2008
Gregory G. Garre	June 2008-October 2008 (acting) October 2008–January 2009
Edwin Kneedler	January 2009–March 2009 (acting)	Barack Obama
Elena Kagan	March 2009-present

References

• Lincoln Caplan. The Tenth Justice (1987)
• Kermit Hall. The Oxford Guide to the Supreme Court of the United States

External links

• Official website