“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.
“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.
“In the past, presidents had been consulted about those kinds of decisions by SGs, and I thought it was the right thing to do.” KindPastPresidentDecisionThings To DoRight Thing Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“The fact that you have a policy of such consequence directly affecting millions of people and you have a legal question of great consequence about the scope of the president's authority to act in implementing the immigration laws in this way and you have a one-line decision from the court affirming by an equally-divided court, it's an inevitable consequence of where we are.” PeopleWayFactsLawPresidentLinesDecisionMillionsPolicyAuthorityConsequenceCourtImmigrationInevitableDividedScopeAffirmingOne LineImplementingImmigration Laws Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
