“The part that the public sees is the arguments up at the podium and the briefs that we file. But a significant part of the job - in fact, I'd say I spend more of my time on this part of the job, which is deciding what the position of the United States will be in the cases that we're going to be participating in before the court.” StatesFactsJobsUnitedCasesUnited StatesPositionArgumentCourtSignificantMy TimeFilesParticipating Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“When we're not a party, we sometimes file as amicus, as friend of the court, 25, 30 times a term, sometimes more. And in each of those cases, we've got to decide what position the government's going to take. And that is the solicitor general's job to make that decision.” SometimesGovernmentJobsTermDecisionPartyCasesPositionCourtFilesSolicitors Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“Quite often there's a great deal of disagreement within the executive branch about what we should do. Some cases are pretty straightforward, but a lot of them aren't.” ShouldDealsCasesBranchesExecutivesDisagreementStraightforwardExecutive Branch Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“The cases involving the question of whether U.S. courts should be open to claims of international human rights violations brought by foreign persons against foreign government officials. And the State Department on the one side has got a very consistent and powerful view that U.S. courts should be open to those claims because there needs to be a place in the world where they can be brought. And those human rights norms ought to be real and enforceable, and we ought to be a beacon to the world.” WorldNeedsShouldHumansPersonsRealStatesGovernmentSidesViewsPowerfulCasesRightsOughtClaimsCourtInternationalHuman RightsOfficialsDepartmentConsistentBeing RealNormViolationInvolvingPlaces In The WorldBeaconsGovernment Officials Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“I do a little bit of hand-holding on the big cases. You know, like health care, I'll call over and say, "Don't worry. We've got it under control. We have the best people working on it. We're on schedule. Stay calm." So, those kinds of things.” PeopleKnowsKindLittlesHandsBigsCareBitsCasesWorryLittle BitCalmHealth CareSchedulesHolding OnStay CalmHand Holding Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“There was only really one time that I had a substantive interaction with the president [Barak Obama] directly, and that was in 2013 when we were deciding whether to file a brief in the first gay marriage case, the Perry against Hollingsworth case. That was a weighty decision about whether the United States government was going to come in and say that heightened scrutiny ought to apply and some state bans on same-sex marriage ought to be unconstitutional. And that was the one time in my tenure where I thought I ought not make this decision without talking to the president.” FirstsStatesGovernmentSexPresidentDecisionUnitedTalkingCasesUnited StatesOughtGayOne TimeInteractionGay MarriageFilesBansScrutinyState GovernmentTenureUnconstitutionalUnited States GovernmentBarak Obama Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“Justice [Sonia]Sotomayor said, "Let's talk - you want to talk about the tax power."And I got like a 10-minute run on the tax power. And, boy, was I glad I did because I was able to get across this idea that, yes, this is a narrower ground on which you can affirm it. And I think everybody agrees. I think even the dissenting justices ultimately in the case agreed that, if Congress had expressly called it a tax, it would be indisputably constitutional.” IfsThinkingWantSaidIdeasWould BeRunningAbleJusticeBoysCasesMinutesTaxesAgreeCongressGlad Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“People have got to make their best calls in what they think about a case when they're covering it. But I do think the lesson there, and I guess stating the obvious, that oral argument can as often send a false signal as an accurate signal about where the thing is going.” PeopleThinkingCasesLessonsArgumentObviousAccurateSignalsCoveringStating The Obvious Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
