The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28,2021.
In the United States,a recess appointment is an appointment by the president of a federal official when the U.S. Senate is in recess. Under the U.S. Constitution's Appointments Clause,the President is empowered to nominate,and with the advice and consent (confirmation) of the Senate,make appointments to high-level policy-making positions in federal departments,agencies,boards,and commissions,as well as to the federal judiciary. A recess appointment under Article II,Section 2,Clause 3 of the Constitution is an alternative method of appointing officials that allows the temporary filling of offices during periods when the Senate is not in session. It was anticipated that the Senate would be away for months at a time,so the ability to fill vacancies in important positions when the Senate is in recess and unavailable to provide advice and consent was deemed essential to maintain government function,as described by Alexander Hamilton in No. 67 of The Federalist Papers.
The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney General and provides its own written opinions and other advice in response to requests from the Counsel to the President,the various agencies of the Executive Branch,and other components of the Department of Justice. The Office reviews and comments on the constitutionality of pending legislation. The office reviews any executive orders and substantive proclamations for legality if the President proposes them. All proposed orders of the Attorney General and regulations that require the Attorney General’s approval are reviewed. It also performs a variety of special assignments referred by the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General.
Steven Gill Bradbury is an American attorney and government official who served as the General Counsel of the United States Department of Transportation. He previously served as Acting Assistant Attorney General (AAG) from 2005 to 2007 and Principal Deputy AAG from 2004 to 2009,heading the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the U.S. Department of Justice during President George W. Bush's second term.
President Barack Obama made two successful appointments to the Supreme Court of the United States. The first was Judge Sonia Sotomayor to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice David H. Souter. Sotomayor was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 6,2009,by a vote of 68–31. The second appointment was that of Solicitor General Elena Kagan to replace the retired John Paul Stevens. Kagan was confirmed by the Senate on August 5,2010,by a vote of 63–37.
Dawn Elizabeth Johnsen is an American lawyer and the Walter W. Foskett Professor of Constitutional law,on the faculty at Maurer School of Law at Indiana University in Bloomington,Indiana. She previously served in the Biden administration as Acting Attorney General at the Office of Legal Counsel,having been appointed on January 20,2021 by President Joe Biden,to return to the role she previously held in the Clinton administration. She was succeeded in that role in a permanent capacity by Christopher H. Schroeder,and is currently serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the same office
Patricia Ann Millett is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She formerly headed the Supreme Court practice at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &Feld. Millett also was a longtime former assistant to the United States Solicitor General and served as an occasional blogger for SCOTUSblog. At the time of her confirmation to the D.C. Circuit,she had argued 32 cases before the United States Supreme Court. In February 2016 The New York Times identified her as a potential nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
Ian Heath Gershengorn is an American lawyer and former acting Solicitor General of the United States under President Barack Obama.
Edward Carroll DuMont is a former Solicitor General of California. In 2010 and 2011 he was nominated by President Barack Obama to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. In November 2011,however,DuMont sent a letter to President Obama asking him to withdraw his nomination to the judgeship. Obama withdrew DuMont's nomination on November 10,2011,nominating Richard G. Taranto in DuMont's place.
On May 10,2010,President Barack Obama announced his selection of Elena Kagan for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States,to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Kagan's nomination was confirmed by a 63–37 vote of the United States Senate on August 5,2010. When nominated,Kagan was Solicitor General of the United States,a position to which Obama had appointed her in March 2009. Kagan was the first Supreme Court nominee since Sandra Day O'Connor in 1981 to not be a sitting circuit court judge and the most recent such nominee as of 2020. She was the first Supreme Court nominee since William Rehnquist and Lewis F. Powell Jr. in 1971 to not be a sitting judge on any court.
Gary Scott Feinerman is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Caitlin Joan Halligan is a lawyer who is the former general counsel for the Manhattan district attorney's office. She served as Solicitor General for the state of New York from 2001 until 2007. President Barack Obama nominated her several times to fill a vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit,but the U.S. Senate did not vote directly on the nomination,and in March 2013 the President withdrew the nomination at her request.
Kathryn "Kathy" Ruemmler is an attorney who formerly served as Principal Deputy White House Counsel and then White House Counsel to President Barack Obama. Previously a partner at Latham and Watkins co-chairing its white-collar defense group,Ruemmler joined Goldman Sachs in 2020 as a Partner and Global Head of Regulatory Affairs. In 2021,she was promoted to Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel.
Cornelia Thayer Livingston Pillard,known professionally as Nina Pillard,is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before becoming a judge,Pillard was a tenured law professor at Georgetown University.
National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning,573 U.S. 513 (2014),was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court unanimously ruled that the President of the United States cannot use his authority under the Recess Appointment Clause of the United States Constitution to appoint public officials unless the United States Senate is in recess and not able to transact Senate business. The Court held that the clause allows the president to make appointments during both intra-session and inter-session recesses but only if the recess is of sufficient length,and if the Senate is actually unavailable for deliberation,thereby limiting future recess appointments. The Court also ruled that any office vacancy can be filled during the recess,regardless of when it arose. The case arose out of President Barack Obama's appointments of Sharon Block,Richard Griffin,and Terence Flynn to the National Labor Relations Board and Richard Cordray as the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Randolph Daniel Moss is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Steven Andrew Engel is an American lawyer. He served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Donald Trump administration. Engel,who previously worked in the George W. Bush administration as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel,was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31,2017,and confirmed on November 7,2017. On January 20,2021,he was succeeded by Christopher H. Schroeder,serving under the Biden Administration.
Ryan Douglas Nelson is a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He was previously nominated to become Solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior,but was never confirmed.
James Chiun-Yue Ho is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Rachel Peter Kovner is an American lawyer from New York and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
