SG Paul Clement to Resign
 

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/05/14/...ent-to-resign/

Whatever you think of his politics, Clement is a tremendous lawyer, and possibly the top Supreme Court advocate in the country (along with Seth Waxman and a few others). I wonder where he'll be practicing when he leaves public service, and who will be replacing him.

Please pardon my ignorance, but I've never been entirely clear on exactly what the Solicitor General's role is vis a vis the Attorney General and other top government lawyers.

No problem; I'm a bit of a Supreme Court nerd, so this stuff really interests me. The Solicitor General conducts all litigation on behalf of the US in the Supreme Court, and oversees the handling of litigation in the federal courts. The office decides which cases the government will seek to be reviewed by the Supreme Court, and files briefs and petitions accordingly.

They are the 4th ranking person in the DOJ, behind the AG, Deputy AG, and Associate AG. They are also referred to as a "10th Justice" on the Supreme Court, because they practice before the Court so regularly, and because the Court will frequently grants the office's request or recommendation that cert be granted in a particular case (a big deal because of how few cases actually get to the Court).

A good summary is available here: http://www.usdoj.gov/osg/about_us.htm .

welcome back

Thanks a lot. My understanding was actually pretty close, but this was a very clear explaination.

I appreciate the knowledge.

Being another crazy who enjoys constitutional law, I totally agree! I wish him well where ever he goes!

Not a problem. Because the position isn't as public as other DOJ spots, I would guess that most of the country doesn't know what the job entails, or the importance of it.

I've just found out so much about it because I've read quite a bit on the Court, and, to be honest, SG would probably be my dream job.

Apparently there are rumors flying around (after a recent Novak column) that Clement was forced out, because his brief in Heller was in opposition to the President's feelings on the issue. If true, it would explain the timing of the resignation.

The issue is discussed a bit here (with the typical Slate perspective on this): http://www.slate.com/id/2185927/pagenum/all/

Not that this would be a huge problem for Clement; he's going to get a boatload of money from some firm (maybe King & Spalding or Kirkland), and he's still a possible future Supreme Court pick.

Looks like Gregory Garre is the new SG:
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/court-notes-sgs-service/

Garre has almost an identical resume to Chief Justice Roberts; he was a clerk to Chief Justice Rehnquist, head of the Supreme Court Appellate Practice at Hogan & Hartson, and has recently worked as Deputy Solicitor General.

I don't think his elevation was too big a surprise; from what I've read, he's a tremendous oral advocate, and should do an excellent job in his new post.

Apparently Clement has accepted a faculty position at Georgetown Law for the upcoming year, so he'll be putting off any decisions as far as private practice.

They're gonna need a good young kid to get this team back to prominence again. Although I hear that Jones played SG in high school and was converted to PG his sophomore year of Junior College.

Haha - fair enough, I should probably stop with the abbreviations.