Solicitor General of the United States - wikipedia Solicitor General of the United States `` USSG '' redirects here. For the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, see United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines. For the U.S. Surgeon General, see Surgeon General of the United States. United States Solicitor General Flag of the United States Solicitor General Incumbent Noel Francisco since September 19, 2017 Department of Justice Office of the Solicitor General Reports to The Attorney General Appointer The President with Senate advice and consent Constituting instrument 28 U.S.C. § 505 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 the office of the Solicitor General The United States Solicitor General is the third - highest - ranking official ( co-equal in ranking with the United States Associate Attorney General ) in the U.S. Department of Justice. The United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Noel Francisco took office on September 19, 2017. The Solicitor General determines the legal position that the United States will take in the Supreme Court. In addition to supervising and conducting cases in which the government is a party, the office of the Solicitor General also files amicus curiae briefs in cases in which the federal government has a significant interest in the legal issue. The office of the Solicitor General argues on behalf of the government in virtually every case in which the United States is a party, and also argues in most of the cases in which the government has filed an amicus brief. In the federal courts of appeal, the Office of the Solicitor General reviews cases decided against the United States and determines whether the government will seek review in the Supreme Court. The Office of the Solicitor General also reviews cases decided against the United States in the federal district courts and approves every case in which the government files an appeal. Contents 1 Composition of the Office of the Solicitor General 2 Significance 3 Call for the Views of the Solicitor General 4 Traditions 5 List of Solicitors General 6 List of notable Principal Deputy Solicitors General 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links Composition of the office of the Solicitor General The Solicitor General is assisted by four Deputy Solicitors General and seventeen Assistants to the Solicitor General. Three of the deputies are career attorneys in the Department of Justice. The remaining deputy is known as the `` Principal Deputy, '' sometimes called the `` political deputy '' and, like the Solicitor General, typically leaves at the end of an administration. The current Principal Deputy is Jeffrey B. Wall, who succeeded Noel J. Francisco after Francisco was nominated to be Solicitor General in March 2017. The other deputies currently are Michael Dreeben, Edwin Kneedler, and Malcolm Stewart. The Solicitor General or one of the deputies typically argues the most important cases in the Supreme Court. Cases not argued by the Solicitor General may be argued by one of the assistants or another government attorney. The Solicitors General tend to argue 6 -- 9 cases per Supreme Court term, while deputies argue 4 -- 5 cases and assistants each argue 2 -- 3 cases. Significance The Solicitor General, who has offices in the Supreme Court Building as well as the Department of Justice Headquarters, has been called the `` tenth justice '' as a result of the close relationship between the justices and the Solicitor General ( and their respective staffs of clerks and deputies ). As the most frequent advocate before the Court, the Office of the Solicitor General generally argues dozens of times each term. As a result, the Solicitor General tends to remain particularly comfortable during oral arguments that other advocates would find intimidating. Furthermore, when the office of the Solicitor General 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 among the most influential and knowledgeable members of the legal community with regard to Supreme Court litigation. Six Solicitors General have later served on the Supreme Court : William Howard Taft ( who served as the 27th President of the United States before becoming Chief Justice of the United States ), Stanley Forman Reed, Robert H. Jackson, Thurgood Marshall, and Elena Kagan. Some who have had other positions in the office of the Solicitor General have also later been appointed to the Supreme Court. For example, Chief Justice John Roberts was the Principal Deputy Solicitor General during the George H.W. Bush administration and Associate Justice Samuel Alito was an Assistant to the Solicitor General. The last former Solicitor General to be successfully nominated to the court was Justice Elena Kagan. Only one former Solicitor General has been nominated to the Supreme Court unsuccessfully, that being Robert Bork ; however, no sitting Solicitor General has ever been denied such an appointment. Eight other Solicitors General have served on the United States Courts of Appeals. Within the Justice Department, the Solicitor General exerts significant influence on all appeals brought by the department. The Solicitor General is the only U.S. officer that is statutorily required to be `` learned in law. '' Whenever 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 can not be appealed by the Appellate Office without the approval of the Solicitor General. Call for the Views of the Solicitor General When determining whether to grant certiorari in a case where the federal government is not a party, the Court will sometimes request the Solicitor General to weigh in, a procedure referred to as a `` Call for the Views of the Solicitor General '' ( CVSG ). In response to a CVSG, the Solicitor General will file a brief opining on whether the petition should be granted and, usually, which party should prevail. Although the CVSG is technically an invitation, the Solicitor General 's office treats it as tantamount to a command. Philip Elman, who served as an attorney in the Solicitor General 's office and who was primary author of the federal government 's brief in Brown v. Board of Education, wrote `` When the Supreme Court invites you, that 's the equivalent of a royal command. An invitation from the Supreme Court just ca n't be rejected. '' The Court typically issues a CVSG where the justices believe that the petition is important, and may be considering granting it, but would like a legal opinion before making that decision. Examples include where there is a federal interest involved in the case ; where there is a new issue for which there is no established precedent ; or where an issue has evolved, perhaps becoming more complex or affecting other issues. Although there is no deadline by which the Solicitor General is required to respond to a CVSG, briefs in response to the CVSG are generally filed at three times of the year : late May, allowing the petition to be considered before the Court breaks for summer recess ; August, allowing the petition to go on the `` summer list '', to be considered at the end of recess ; and December, allowing the case to be argued in the remainder of the current Supreme Court term. 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, although Elena Kagan, the only woman to hold the office, elected to forgo the practice. During oral argument, the members of the Court often address the Solicitor General as `` General. '' Another tradition, possibly unique to the United States, is the practice of confession of error. If the government prevailed in the lower court but the Solicitor General disagrees with the result, he or she may confess error, after which the Supreme Court will vacate the lower court 's ruling and send the case back for reconsideration. List of Solicitors General Picture Solicitor General Date of service Appointing President Benjamin Bristow October 1870 -- November 1872 Ulysses Grant Samuel Phillips November 1872 -- May 1885 John Goode May 1885 -- August 1886 Grover Cleveland George Jenks July 1886 -- May 1889 Orlow Chapman May 1889 -- January 1890 Benjamin Harrison William Taft February 1890 -- March 1892 Charles Aldrich March 1892 -- May 1893 Lawrence Maxwell April 1893 -- January 1895 Grover Cleveland Holmes Conrad February 1895 -- July 1897 John Richards July 1897 -- March 1903 William McKinley Henry Hoyt February 1903 -- March 1909 Teddy Roosevelt Lloyd Bowers April 1909 -- September 1910 William Taft Frederick Lehmann December 1910 -- July 1912 William Bullitt July 1912 -- March 1913 John Davis August 29, 1913 -- November 21, 1918 Woodrow Wilson Alexander King November 21, 1918 -- May 24, 1920 William Frierson June 1920 -- June 1921 James Beck June 1921 -- June 1925 Warren Harding William Mitchell June 4, 1925 -- March 4, 1929 Calvin Coolidge Charles Hughes May 1929 -- April 1930 Herbert Hoover Thomas Thacher March 1930 -- May 1933 James Biggs May 1933 -- April 1935 Franklin Roosevelt Stanley Reed April 1935 -- January 27, 1938 Robert Jackson March 1938 -- January 18, 1940 Francis Biddle January 22, 1940 -- August 25, 1941 Charles Fahy November 1, 1941 -- September 1945 Howard McGrath October 1945 -- October 1946 Harry Truman Philip Perlman July 1947 -- August 1952 Walter Cummings December 1952 -- March 1953 Simon Sobeloff February 1954 -- July 1956 Dwight Eisenhower Lee Rankin August 1956 -- January 1961 Archibald Cox January 1961 -- July 1965 John F. Kennedy Thurgood Marshall August 23, 1965 -- August 30, 1967 Lyndon Johnson Erwin Griswold October 1967 -- March 21, 1973 Robert Bork March 21, 1973 -- January 20, 1977 Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Daniel Friedman Acting January 20, 1977 -- March 28, 1977 Jimmy Carter Wade McCree March 28, 1977 -- January 20, 1981 Rex Lee August 1981 -- June 1, 1985 Ronald Reagan Charles Fried June 1, 1985 -- January 20, 1989 Acting : June 1, 1985 -- October 23, 1985 William Bryson Acting January 20, 1989 -- May 26, 1989 George H.W. Bush Ken Starr May 26, 1989 -- January 20, 1993 William Bryson Acting January 20, 1993 -- June 7, 1993 Bill Clinton Drew Days June 7, 1993 -- July 1, 1996 Walter Dellinger Acting July 1, 1996 -- November 13, 1997 Seth Waxman November 13, 1997 -- January 20, 2001 Barbara Underwood Acting January 20, 2001 -- June 11, 2001 George W. Bush Ted Olson June 11, 2001 -- July 10, 2004 Paul Clement July 11, 2004 -- June 19, 2008 Acting : July 11, 2004 -- June 13, 2005 Gregory Garre June 19, 2008 -- January 16, 2009 Acting : June 19, 2008 -- October 2, 2008 Edwin Kneedler Acting January 16, 2009 -- March 19, 2009 Barack Obama Elena Kagan March 19, 2009 -- May 17, 2010 Neal Katyal Acting May 17, 2010 -- June 9, 2011 Don Verrilli June 9, 2011 -- June 25, 2016 Ian Gershengorn Acting June 25, 2016 -- January 20, 2017 Noel Francisco Acting January 20, 2017 -- March 10, 2017 Donald Trump Jeff Wall Acting March 10, 2017 -- September 19, 2017 Noel Francisco September 19, 2017 -- present List of notable Principal Deputy Solicitors General Paul M. Bator : 1982 to 1983 Donald B. Ayer : June 1986 to December 1988 John Roberts : 1989 -- 1993 Paul Bender : 1993 -- 1996 Seth Waxman : 1996 -- 1997 Barbara D. Underwood : March 1997 to January 2001 ( acting SG from January to June 2001 ) Paul D. Clement -- 2001 to July 2004 ( became acting SG ) Gregory G. Garre : September 2005 - June 19, 2008 ( became acting SG ) Neal Katyal : January 2009 to May 2010 ( became acting SG ) Leondra Kruger : acting principal deputy SG named in August 2010 Sri Srinivasan : August 2011 to May 2013 Ian Gershengorn -- September 2013 to June 2016 ( became Acting SG ) Notes Jump up ^ `` Senate confirms Oswego native Noel Francisco as Trump 's solicitor general ''. The Post Standard. September 25, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017. Jump up ^ Bhatia, Kedar S. ( April 17, 2011 ). `` Updated Advocate Scorecard ( OT00 - 10 ) ''. Daily Writ. Jump up ^ Caplan, Lincoln ( 1987 ). The Tenth Justice : The Solicitor General and the Rule of Law. New York : Knopf. Jump up ^ Thompson, David C. ; Wachtell, Melanie F. ( 2009 ). `` An Empirical Analysis of Supreme Court Certiorari Petition Procedures ''. George Mason University Law Review. 16 ( 2 ) : 237, 275. SSRN 1377522. Jump up ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/12/AR2010051205049.html RET. Dec. 27 2017 14 : 07 CST Jump up ^ Waxman, Seth ( June 1, 1998 ). `` ' Presenting the Case of the United States As It Should Be ' : The Solicitor General in Historical Context ''. Address to the Supreme Court Historical Society. Retrieved June 7, 2011. Jump up ^ Black, Ryan C. ; Owens, Ryan J. ( April 30, 2012 ). The Solicitor General and the United States Supreme Court : Executive Branch Influence and Judicial Decisions. Cambridge University Press. pp. 142 -- 143. ISBN 9781107015296. OCLC 761858397. ^ Jump up to : McElroy, Lisa ( February 10, 2010 ). `` '' CVSG `` s in plain English ''. ScotusBlog. Retrieved January 13, 2015. ^ Jump up to : Lepore, Stefanie ( December 2010 ). `` The Development of the Supreme Court Practice of Calling for the Views of the Solicitor General ''. Journal of Supreme Court History. SSRN 1496643. Jump up ^ Elman, Philip ; Silber, Norman ( February 1987 ). `` The Solicitor General 's Office, Justice Frankfurter, and Civil Rights Litigation, 1946 - 1960 : An Oral History ''. Harvard Law Review. 100 ( 4 ) : 817 -- 852. doi : 10.2307 / 1341096. JSTOR 1341096. Jump up ^ Suter, William. `` Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court ''. U.S. Supreme Court Week ( Interview ). C - SPAN. Jump up ^ Toobin, Jeffrey. `` Money Unlimited, How Chief Justice John Roberts Orchestrated the Citizens United Decision ''. The New Yorker. Retrieved May 16, 2012. Jump up ^ `` General relativity ''. Grammarphobia. May 20, 2012. Jump up ^ Herz, Michael ( Spring 2003 ). `` Generals, Generals Everywhere ''. Jump up ^ Bruhl, Aaron ( March 1, 2010 ). `` Solicitor General Confessions of Error ''. PrawfsBlawg. Retrieved February 23, 2011. ( Discussing GVRs ( grant, vacate, remand ) in the context of confessions of error ). ^ Jump up to : `` Nixon 's Men : All Work and No Frills ''. The New York Times. March 21, 1973. p. 47. Jump up ^ Biographies of Current Justices of the Supreme Court. Jump up ^ Stephanie Woodrow, Ex-Prosecutor to Join New York Attorney General 's Office, Main Justice, December 23, 2010. Jump up ^ S. Hrg. 109 - 46 Jump up ^ U.S. Department of Justice, Paul Clement to Serve As Acting Solicitor General, July 12, 2004. Jump up ^ Tom Goldstein, Neal Katyal to be Principal Deputy Solicitor General, SCOTUSblog, January 17, 2009. Jump up ^ Brent Kendall, Feds Prevail in Spat with Former Acting Solicitor General, Wall Street Journal, May 20, 2012 Jump up ^ Ashby Jones, DOJ Taps 34 - Year - Old for High - Ranking Position in SG 's Office, Wall Street Journal, August 10, 2010 Jump up ^ Tony Mauro, Surprise Appointment in SG 's Office, The BLT : The Blog of the Legal Times, August 10, 2010. Jump up ^ U.S. Department of Justice, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Appoints Sri Srinivasan as Principal Deputy Solicitor General, August 26, 2011. Jump up ^ Sri Srinivasan, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Jump up ^ Tom Goldstein, The new Principal Deputy Solicitor General, SCOTUSblog, August 9, 2013. Jump up ^ Tony Mauro, Gershengorn Named Principal Deputy Solicitor General, The BLT : The Blog of the Legal Times, August 12, 2013 References Caplan, Lincoln ( 1987 ). The Tenth Justice : The Solicitor General and the Rule of Law. New York : Knopf. Hall, Kermit L. ( 1992 ). The Oxford Guide to the Supreme Court of the United States. New York : Oxford University Press. External links Official website United States Solicitors General Bristow Phillips Goode Jenks Chapman Taft Aldrich Maxwell Conrad Richards Hoyt Bowers Lehmann Bullitt Davis King Frierson Beck Mitchell Hughes Thacher Biggs Reed Jackson Biddle Fahy McGrath Perlman Cummings Sobeloff Rankin Cox Marshall Griswold Bork McCree Lee Fried Starr Days Dellinger Waxman Underwood Olson Clement Garre Kneedler Kagan Katyal Verrilli Gershengorn Francisco Wall Francisco Acting officeholders shown in italics Supreme Court of the United States The Court Lists of cases Procedures Supreme Court Building Court demographics Ideological leanings Appointment and confirmation Current members Chief Justice John Roberts Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan Neil Gorsuch Retired Justices John Paul Stevens Sandra Day O'Connor David Souter Current nominations No vacancies History Jay Court ( 1789 -- 1795 ) Rutledge Court ( 1795 ) Ellsworth Court ( 1796 -- 1800 ) Marshall Court ( 1801 -- 1835 ) Taney Court ( 1836 -- 1864 ) Chase Court ( 1864 -- 1873 ) Waite Court ( 1874 -- 1888 ) Fuller Court ( 1888 -- 1910 ) White Court ( 1910 -- 1921 ) Taft Court ( 1921 -- 1930 ) Hughes Court ( 1930 -- 1941 ) Stone Court ( 1941 -- 1946 ) Vinson Court ( 1946 -- 1953 ) Warren Court ( 1953 -- 1969 ) Burger Court ( 1969 -- 1986 ) Rehnquist Court ( 1986 -- 2005 ) Roberts Court ( 2005 -- present ) Lists of justices and nominees Chief justices Associate justices All justices court seat education time in office timelines Justices who served in Congress All nominations Unsuccessful nominations Nominations near end of presidency Statutes affecting Court size Judiciary Act of 1789 Judiciary Act of 1801 ( Midnight Judges Act ) Judiciary Act of 1802 Seventh Circuit Act of 1807 Eighth and Ninth Circuits Act of 1837 Tenth Circuit Act of 1863 Judicial Circuits Act of 1866 Judiciary Act of 1869 Court functionaries Clerk Reporter of Decisions Supreme Court Police Lists of law clerks Chief Justice Seat 1 Seat 2 Seat 3 Seat 4 Seat 6 Seat 8 Seat 9 Seat 10 All Former locations Old City Hall, Philadelphia Old Supreme Court Chamber, U.S. Capitol Old Senate Chamber, U.S. Capitol Related United States Solicitor General United States Reports Lawyers ' Edition Amicus curiae Article III, U.S. Constitution Original jurisdiction The Court in fiction Other countries Law Portal Agencies under the United States Department of Justice Headquarters : Robert F. 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Question: what current member of the supreme court was once the solicitor general
Answer: Elena Kagan