Changes at the Solicitor General’s Office

For those who haven’t seen, Solicitor General Paul Clement announced that he will leave the government on June 2. I had the great experience of working with Clement for a year when I was a Bristow Fellow, and I think his departure will be a blow to the office.  Not only is Clement is an excellent lawyer and advocate; he also has amazing capacity to get immense amounts of work done.  More than that, he has done, I think, a really good job of fulfilling the difficult task of satisfying the administration while at the same time maintaining credibility with the Court by presenting only plausible legal arguments, such as in the Heller case (the DC gun case). 

I don’t know what his plans are, but Clement will be a huge asset to wherever he lands. As for his successor, I obviously can’t be sure, but I suspect that Greg Garre, who is the current principal deputy, will become the Acting SG. 

I don’t think it is surprising that Clement is leaving now instead of waiting until the change of the administration.  The administration change comes in January --- right in the middle of the Court’s term.   Staying until that time would mean that Clement would file briefs in cases that he would not be able to see through to oral argument.

On a related note, word on the street is that deputy SG Thomas Hungar is also planning to leave this summer.  That’s going to leave the office with two of its four deputy spots open (that’s assuming Garre gets bumped up).