President Obama on Monday nominated a White House deputy counsel and prominent litigator, Donald B. Verrilli Jr., to be solicitor general, one of the most important positions on the administration legal team.
If confirmed, Mr. Verrilli would have the power to approve significant briefs filed by the government in ideologically charged legal appeals, like lawsuits challenging the ban on federal recognition of same-sex marriages. And he would most likely appear personally to argue major cases already wending their way to the Supreme Court, like the constitutionality of the health care law.
A specialist in First Amendment, telecommunications and intellectual property law, he has argued 12 times before the Supreme Court, as well as about 35 times before federal appeals courts and state supreme courts, representing clients from deep-pocket corporate interests to death-row inmates.
Read the complete New York Times story, "Obama Nominates a Deputy Counsel for Solicitor General."
