Will a Woman be Appointed Solicitor General?

The names of several women are being bandied about as possible appointees to the Justice Department’s solicitor general post.

A new president typically appoints a new solicitor general before filling other Justice Department posts, and the job could go to a woman, according to USA Today. No female has previously been appointed to the job, although a woman held the job in acting capacity for six months, the AmLaw Daily reports.

The ABA Journal mentioned one possible female candidate for the job in its November cover story, "The Lawyers Who May Run America." She is Kathleen Sullivan, the former dean of Stanford Law School. She now chairs the national appellate practice group at Quinn Emanuel.

The AmLaw Daily and Legal Times mention several others. They are:

--Preeta Bansal, New York State’s former solicitor general and the chair of appellate litigation at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

--Beth Brinkmann, a partner at Morrison & Foerster and a former assistant solicitor general.

--Harvard law dean Elena Kagan.

--Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan, founding director of the school’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic.

--MetLife litigation counsel Teresa Wynn Roseborough.

Four solicitors general have gone on to the U.S. Supreme Court, the USA Today story says. The most recent was Thurgood Marshall.

University of Texas law professor Sanford Levinson told USA Today it’s possible that Barack Obama will be watching to see how effectively the solicitor general crafts legal arguments that can attract a majority of the justices. “It could be an audition” for the Supreme Court, he said.