History and Cases Shaping a Nation
Welcome to the CQ Press Supreme Court Collection, a destination for authoritative information and data on cases, justices, and the history and power of the U.S. Supreme Court. Researchers will find the data and tools to answer questions about justices and their opinions and behavior.
The latest Supreme Court news and analysis from legal affairs expert Kenneth Jost.
A Bumpy Transition for Solicitor General’s Office – March 22, 2021
When a new president moves into the White House, the federal agencies in charge of national security and domestic welfare quickly change policies in line with the political views of the new chief executive, but not the solicitor general’s office. The solicitor general’s office, the arm of the Justice Department that represents the government at the Supreme Court, prides itself on providing the justices with independent, nonpartisan legal advice based on law not politics and aimed at best serving the government’s long-term interests. For that reason, the solicitor general (SG) changes legal positions with a new president in the White House only rarely. But the post-Trump transition in the first few months of 2021 has been different, marked by at least nine changes of position by the solicitor general’s office in new filings in cases pending at the Court during the 2020 term. In this Court Report, court expert Kenneth Jost discusses the cases on which the incoming administration has chosen to change course on.
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