Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I think the nine justices think the solicitor general is the 35th clerk.
The option of solicitor advocacy came on the scene a bit too late for me.
I was a solicitor once, so I'm truly grateful because I know what it's like to have a proper job.
And whether you're an honest man, or whether you're a thief, depends on whose solicitor has given me my brief.
The solicitor general is sometimes referred to as the 10th Supreme Court justice - a pretty important position.
I'm a duty solicitor, so I can't fix someone's life; all I can do is fix the problem I've got in front of my eyes.
The Solicitor General is responsible for overseeing appellate litigation on behalf of the United States and with representing the United States in the Supreme Court.
I remember when I worked at the solicitor's - you'd go in, talk to your mates for a bit and then get down to work. With us the talking to your mates part never stops.
It was an interesting experience to work alongside the solicitor general's team and then turn around and argue against them. You certainly grow as a lawyer from getting such a varied set of experiences.
The first thing I wanted to be growing up was a solicitor, because all the people around me needed solicitors! But I never really followed it up. Then I wanted to be a dessert chef because I liked the presentation.
When my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1991, I asked him if he had any regrets, and he said no. I was a burnt-out litigation solicitor in my thirties, hating my life, and his cancer made me re-evaluate it all.
The Office of the Solicitor General has a deeply ingrained fundamental institutional culture that has stood the test of time for decades. I went because I wanted to do public service and do an appellate practice at the very highest levels I could.
When I worked in the Department of Justice, in the office of the solicitor general, it was my job to argue cases for the United States before the Supreme court. I always found it very moving to stand before the justices and say, 'I speak for my country.'
There have been 111 Justices in the Supreme Court of the United States. Only three have been women. If she is confirmed, Solicitor General Kagan will bring the Supreme Court to an historical high-water mark, with three women concurrently serving as Justices.
It's not that there are no masters, but that there are many. And the job of the solicitor general is to balance those masters and to accommodate them all, each in their proper places, wisely and well and in so doing to represent the people of the United States.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States uprooted more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent, most of them American citizens, and confined them in internment camps. The Solicitor General was largely responsible for the defense of those policies.
I think, clearly, where you have a situation in which the Solicitor General tells me, 'I cannot in good faith argue a certainly legal position,' and if the president told us to argue that position, we would have to tell him, 'No, we can't do that, Mr. President.'
As Ohio Solicitor General and in pro bono private practice, I defended Ohio's hate crimes law. This included a brief in the Wisconsin v. Mitchell case where the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Wisconsin's hate crime law that included sexual orientation. Ohio's should include it as well, and we support it.
Much of the work legal executives do has to be supervised by a solicitor, irrespective of the experience or ability of the individual. In practice, this is a major disincentive to legal executives setting up their own high street practices. Even when they can do the work, they are still tied to solicitors.
To have the opportunity to lead the Solicitor General's office is the honor of a lifetime. As you know, this is an office with a long and rich tradition, not only of extraordinary legal skill but also of extraordinary professionalism and integrity. That is due, in large measure, to the people who have led it.
I can tell you that standard D.O.J. protocol is that you let official acts speak for themselves. You don't go and spin your action. For example, when I ran the Solicitor General's office, there would be all sorts of times when the litigants would make something up, and we would just never comment to the press. It is not what we do.