New SG Won’t Argue Supreme Court Case Until Next Term
The new solicitor general has never argued a U.S. Supreme Court case—and won’t be anytime soon.
Earlier reports had suggested that Solicitor General Elena Kagan was angling to participate in an important voting rights case set for argument April 29. But now Justice Department spokeswoman Beverley Lumpkin tells The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times that Kagan is waiting until the next term, which begins in October. Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal will handle the voting rights case.
When Kagan arrived in late March, “all the cases had already been assigned” to other lawyers in the office, Lumpkin told The BLT. “There is a lot to do in setting up her office, and it seemed like the best thing to do was to wait.”
Kagan, the former dean of Harvard Law School, was confirmed on March 19 after three hours of debate that focused on whether she had the right experience to be solicitor general.
