United States Solicitor General
|
|
The United States Solicitor General is the individual tasked with arguing for the United States Government in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, when the government is party to a case.
The Solicitor General works within the United States Department of Justice; he or she is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
The office of Solicitor General was founded in the late 1800's, and some traditions have been established. Whenever the Solicitor General argues a case before the Supreme Court he continues to wear late 19th century style dress, with striped pants, grey ascot, vest, and a cutaway morning coat, making him a very distinctive sight in the courtroom. Another, very substantive, tradition (that is possibly unique in United States) is the Solicitor General's right and practice of Confession of judgment in cases where he or she considers the Government's prior official position to be clearly unjust: he or she can just drop the case, even if the Government has already won in the lower courts.
Among lawyers and jurists, the office of United States Solicitor General is generally considered to be the highest practicing lawyer office in the United States.
Solicitors General Since 1870
| Name |
Date of Service | Under which President |
| Benjamin H. Bristow |
October 1870 - November 1872 | Grant |
| Samuel F. Phillips | November 1872 - May 1885 | Grant |
| John Goode (Acting) | May 1885 - August 1886 | Cleveland |
| George A. Jenks | July 1886 - May 1889 | Cleveland |
| Orlow W. Chapman | May 1889 - January 1890 | Harrison |
| William Howard Taft | February 1890 - March 1892 | Harrison |
| Charles H. Aldrich | March 1892 - May 1893 | Harrison |
| Lawrence Maxwell, Jr. | April 1893 - January 1895 | Cleveland |
| Holmes Conrad | February 1895 - July 1897 | Cleveland |
| John K. Richards | July 1897 - March 1903 | McKinley |
| Henry M. Hoyt | February 1903 - March 1909 | Roosevelt |
| Lloyd Wheaton Bowers | April 1909 - September 1910 | Taft |
| Frederick W. Lehmann | December 1910 - July 1912 | Taft |
| William Marshall Bullit | July 1912 - March 1913 | Taft |
| John William Davis | August 1913 - November 1918 | Wilson |
| Alexander C. King | November 1918 - May 1920 | Wilson |
| William L. Frierson | June 1920 - June 1921 | Wilson |
| James M. Beck | June 1921 - June 1925 | Harding |
| William D. Mitchell | June 1925 - March 1929 | Coolidge |
| Charles Evans Hughes. | May 1929 - April 1930 | Hoover |
| Thomas D. Thacher | March 1930 - May 1933 | Hoover |
| James Crawford Biggs | May 1933 - March 1935 | Roosevelt |
| Stanley F. Reed | March 1935 - January 1938 | Roosevelt |
| Robert H. Jackson | March 1938 - January 1940 | Roosevelt |
| Francis Biddle | January 1940 - September 1941 | Roosevelt |
| Charles Fahy | November 1941 - September 1945 | Roosevelt |
| J. Howard McGrath | October 1945 - October 1946 | Truman |
| Philip B. Perlman | July 1947 - August 1952 | Truman |
| Walter J. Cummings, Jr. | December 1952 - March 1953 | Truman |
| Simon E. Sobeloff | February 1954 - July 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| J. Lee Rankin | August 1956 - January 1961 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Archibald Cox | January 1961 - July 1965 | John F. Kennedy |
| Thurgood Marshall | August 1965 - August 1967 | Lyndon Johnson |
| Erwin N. Griswold | October 1967 - June 1973 | Lyndon Johnson |
| 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 | Ronald Reagan |
| Kenneth W. Starr | May 1989 - January 1993 | George H. W. Bush |
| Drew S. Days, III | May 1993 - July 1996 | Bill Clinton |
| Seth P. Waxman | November 1997 - January 2001 | Bill Clinton |
| Theodore B. Olson | June 2001 - July 2004 | George W. Bush |
| Paul D. Clement (acting) | July 2004 - present | George W. Bush |
External Link
- Solicitor General Website (http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/)