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The US Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in Fischer v. United States and at issue is statute 18 USC §1512(c)(2): Whoever corruptly— (1) alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or (2) otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision on Fischer v United...

Over the past year, the federal government’s lead Supreme Court litigator has repeatedly attempted to expedite Trump administration cases by using an unorthodox maneuver, one that legal experts say is rarely successful. Solicitor General Noel Francisco has requested on eight separate occasions, twice in the same case, that justices bypass the regional federal appeals court and instead review the ruling by a lower district court. Those requests, known as petitions for a writ of certiorari before judgment, stemmed from challenges to President Trump’s restrictions on transgender people serving in the military, its decision to wind down the Deferred Action for...

Justice Elena Kagan (Screen Capture) (CNSNews.com) - In oral arguments in the case of Trump v. Hawaii today, Justice Elena Kagan suggested as a hypothetical that the United States elects a president “who is a vehement anti-Semite and says all kinds of denigrating comments about Jews,” and that, once in office, this president issues “a proclamation that says no one shall enter from Israel.” “This is an out-of-the-box kind of President in my hypothetical,” Kagan said in an exchange with Solicitor General Noel Francisco as people in the courtroom laughed, according to the transcript and audio recording of the...

One of the finalists for the post of solicitor general has withdrawn rather than dip his toe into the toxic stew that Senate Democrats have made of confirmation process. Chuck Cooper said Thursday he no longer wishes to be considered for the post. His withdrawal leaves George Conway, the husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, as the only remaining finalist. The solicitor general represents the government in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.

George Conway, a Filipino American corporate lawyer and husband to US President-elect Donald Trump’s senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, is being eyed as the next solicitor general of America. Bloomberg and CNN both reported that Conway is on the shortlist of candidates being considered for the third-highest post in the US Justice Department. If Trump appoints Conway to the post, the corporate lawyer will become the first Asian-American solicitor general. While Conway has yet to comment on the matter, CNN reported that he is likely accept the position once Trump himself taps him to be the US government’s top appellate lawyer....

“Lawfully” does not mean “legally.” Welcome to what Solicitor General Donald Verrilli told the Supreme Court on Monday is the “immigration world.” Or, more accurately, welcome to the new world President Barack Obama — through his solicitor — is asking the Supreme Court to join him in declaring. […] “Aliens with lawful status under the [Immigration and Nationality Act] are here lawfully; their presence therefore is not a basis for removal,” said Obama’s solicitor in his brief. “By contrast, mere ‘lawful presence’ occurs when the Executive ‘openly tolerate[s] an undocumented alien’s continued presence in the United States for a fixed...

In just a few years, he turned an obscure Texas legal post into a national platform for red-meat conservative causes.In 2008, in the high-profile Supreme Court gun-rights case called District of Columbia v. Heller, a brief was filed from the eighth floor of the Daniel Price Sr. State Office Building in Austin, Texas, specifically from the corner office of the man who was then the state's solicitor general, Ted Cruz.The brief took a strong stance on the divisive question of whether the Second Amendment establishes an individual right to own guns, or just protects state and local militias. The brief...

When word spread late Monday that George W. Bush had bluntly expressed his dislike for Ted Cruz, it was not exactly a surprise to those familiar with the former president's thinking. Tensions between the Bushes, the most famous family in Texas politics, and Cruz, the freshman senator with his sights set on the White House, are nothing new. And a presidential race in which Cruz has made no secret of how he views GOP foe Jeb Bush and past Bush administrations has done little to settle the rift. "I just don't like the guy," George W. Bush said of...

WASHINGTON—Supreme Court justices riffed on artists from Shostakovich to Jimi Hendrix in arguments Wednesday about whether Congress can grant copyrights to works by foreign authors never before protected in the U.S. . Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, defending the law, said it brought the U.S. into a convention that can protect American intellectual property abroad and amounted to "the price of admission to the international system." Several justices, however, doubted that taking books and music by long-dead authors out of the public domain could promote the "progress" the Constitution sought to spur through copyright. .

The Obama administration in a brief to the Supreme Court has backed the Vatican's claim of immunity from lawsuits arising from cases of sexual abuse by priests in the United States. The Supreme Court is considering an appeal by the Vatican of an appellate court ruling that lifted its immunity in the case of an alleged pedophile priest from Oregon. In a filing on Friday, the solicitor generla's office argued that the Ninth Circuit court of appeals erred in allowing the lawsuit brought by a man who claims he was sexually abused in the 1960's by the Oregon priest. The...

In the wake of news that Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter plans to retire soon, attention is turning toward Elena Kagan as a possible replacement -- even though she just started another job. She's the new U.S. solicitor general -- the first female to hold the position. Just days before the Souter news broke, The National Law Journal interviewed Kagan about her new job -- her first interview since taking office March 20 as the government's top lawyer before the U.S. Supreme Court. The former Harvard Law School dean responded to concerns from those who want the Obama administration...

The Justice Department has confirmed reports that Solicitor General Elena Kagan will not argue before the Supreme Court during its next argument cycle starting April 20, which is the final set of arguments for the current term. That means she won't be making her first argument before the Court until next term, which begins Oct. 5. When we wrote in January about Kagan's lack of appellate experience, veteran advocate Andrew Frey of Mayer Brown suggested she should not feel obliged to argue a case this spring, so soon after her confirmation. After she was confirmed by the Senate on March...

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama on Monday chose the dean at his alma mater, Harvard Law School, to represent the United States before the Supreme Court. Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan would be the first woman confirmed as solicitor general.

Solicitor General Pick Has One Glaring Gap on Resume Tony Mauro 01-12-2009 Top-drawer legal practices have been built, enviable careers have been charted, and much ink has been spilled, based on a proposition that is rarely disputed: Arguing before the Supreme Court ain't for amateurs. The justices themselves have fueled this perception by turning oral argument into an extreme sport that subjects the advocate to a barrage of questions -- each of which must be answered strategically, accurately and, most of all, immediately. In their body language and their rulings, the justices often make it clear that they are happier...

Obama names Elena Kagan as Solicitor General President-elect Obama has named Elena Kagan, Harvard Law School dean, as Solicitor General. Kagan will be the first woman to serve permanently in this important post, which is tasked with conducting "all litigation on behalf of the United States in the Supreme Court, and to supervise the handling of litigation in the federal appellate courts. Kagan previously served in the White House during the Clinton administration, as Associate Counsel to the President, Deputy Assistant the the President for Domestic Policy, and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Council. (Emphasis mine) In an email...

The rumors are true: Elena Kagan, the celebrated dean of Harvard Law School, is President Barack Obama’s choice for Solicitor General of the United States. Below is a copy of the email Kagan sent to the Harvard Law School community to deliver the news, along with new year’s wishes and love for what she calls a “wondrous law school.” From: Elena Kagan Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 11:15 AM To: HLS Alumni Subject: Announcement Dear colleagues and friends: I am writing to all of you - the community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Harvard Law School - to...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush is nominating Gregory C. Garre to be the U.S. solicitor general, the lawyer charged with arguing the administration's cases before the Supreme Court. A senior administration official confirmed the nomination Monday on condition of anonymity because the announcement had not yet been made. Bush is designating Garre to serve as acting solicitor general while his confirmation is pending before the Senate. Garre will replace Paul Clement, . . .

WASHINGTON - Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith has an unusual bedfellow in the Supreme Court fight over her late husband’s fortune: the Bush administration. The administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer filed arguments on Smith’s behalf and wants to take part when the case is argued before the justices. The court will decide early next year whether to let the U.S. solicitor general share time with Smith’s attorney during the one hour argument on Feb. 28. Smith, a television reality star and native Texan, plans to attend the court argument. She is trying to collect millions of dollars from the estate...

WASHINGTON - Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith has an unusual bedfellow in the Supreme Court fight over her late husband's fortune: the Bush administration. The administration's top Supreme Court lawyer filed arguments on Smith's behalf and wants to take part when the case is argued before the justices. The court will decide early next year whether to let the U.S. solicitor general share time with Smith's attorney during the one hour argument on Feb. 28. Smith, a television reality star and native Texan, plans to attend the court argument. She is trying to collect millions of dollars from the estate...

...[T]he eight Democrats on the Judiciary Committee sent a thank you letter to President Bush that began with the words, "We are disappointed," and went on to label as "ill-advised" the Administration's decision not to release Judge Robert's papers from his years as Deputy Solicitor General under the first President Bush.... Ted Kennedy issued a separate statement demanding the release of the Solicitor General papers and asserting: "There is no privilege, there is no rule, and there is no logic that would bar us from getting these documents." The Senator from Massachusetts is wrong about privilege, but he has a...