Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. I'm June Grosso. Every
Speaker 1: day we bring you inside an analysis into the most
Speaker 1: important legal news of the day. You can find more
Speaker 1: episodes of the Bloomberg Law Podcast on Apple podcast, SoundCloud
Speaker 1: and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. The Solicitor General
Speaker 1: is referred to as the tenth Justice because of the
Speaker 1: special role as the federal government's top lawyer at the U. S.
Speaker 1: Supreme Court. That informal title maybe truer today than it's
Speaker 1: ever been. Joining me is Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson, Bloomberg Law Editor. So, Kimberly,
Speaker 1: no Francisco is the current Solicitor General. Start by explaining
Speaker 1: a little about the role of the s G, especially
Speaker 1: with regard to what's called c v s g S
Speaker 1: short for Call for the Views of the Solicitor General. Right. Well,
Speaker 1: as you mentioned Noel Francisco is the current Solicitor General,
Speaker 1: that he's a former partner at the big law firm
Speaker 1: of Jones Day, where a lot of Trump administration officials
Speaker 1: have come from. And as you said, they're really the
Speaker 1: administration's top lawyer at the U. S. Supreme Court, and
Speaker 1: they oversee other litigation um as it's working its way
Speaker 1: through the federal courts, and it has the relationship of
Speaker 1: trust with the Supreme Court. And one of the ways
Speaker 1: that we see this relationship play out is through these
Speaker 1: cvs g s or calls for the views of the
Speaker 1: Solicitor General. And what will happen in these cases if
Speaker 1: the justices will ask the Solicitor General and his office
Speaker 1: to weigh in on whether or not a court should
Speaker 1: take up a case or whether or not it should
Speaker 1: let it pass, and we see some remarkable agreement between
Speaker 1: the justices and the solicitor generals. This term um when
Speaker 1: it comes to those suggestions, you write that the office
Speaker 1: of the Solicitor General has an almost perfect record this
Speaker 1: term when it comes to these recommendations. Tell us about
Speaker 1: the numbers and how that compares to the prior administration. Right, Well,
Speaker 1: we're seeing an increase in these cvs g s, meaning
Speaker 1: presumably that the court is relying or on the office
Speaker 1: than it has in previous decades. And so now we
Speaker 1: get cbs g's about two dozen times a term. A
Speaker 1: lot of them stack up at the end of the term,
Speaker 1: so about half of the Solicitor General's recommendations are still outstanding.
Speaker 1: But in ten of eleven recommendations that the Office has
Speaker 1: made so far this term, the Supreme Court has agreed.
Speaker 1: We'll see as the Court approaches the end of this
Speaker 1: term if that will stick. But overall, in the three
Speaker 1: years that the administration has been replying to these cvs g's,
Speaker 1: the administration has been doing very well. It's somewhere in
Speaker 1: nine where it's historically it's been closer to and under
Speaker 1: Obama it reaches as low as sixty five percent. If
Speaker 1: you get sixty of a windstrink in the Supreme Court,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty good day. But as I mentioned, it
Speaker 1: has been higher in other administrations that it was under Obama.
Speaker 1: In general, has the s G been recommending taking cases
Speaker 1: with controversial issues or turning them away? Mostly turning them away,
Speaker 1: And that's historically the practice of the Solicitor General is
Speaker 1: to be more risk averse and not suggests that the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court spend a lot of its time on certain cases.
Speaker 1: I would note one particular CBSG that the Court is
Speaker 1: still considering has to do with Sudan and terrorism and
Speaker 1: what damages individuals can get, and that will be an
Speaker 1: interesting one that the Solicitor General has recommended that the
Speaker 1: Justices do take up during their next term. So why
Speaker 1: this deference to the Solicitor General with this particular court. Well,
Speaker 1: of course, all of this is happening through briefs at
Speaker 1: the Court and no one's actually sitting down and really
Speaker 1: having in conversations, So we just have to speculate. But
Speaker 1: we have a some good idea that it may have
Speaker 1: to do with the converging ideologies. Not only is the
Speaker 1: Solicitor General's office getting more conservative, but so are the
Speaker 1: Justices and that may indicate that, you know, they see
Speaker 1: eye to eye with the Solicitor General on what kinds
Speaker 1: of cases and what kinds of issues the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: be tackling right now. Is that winning streak of the
Speaker 1: Solicitor General any indication of how the Court will rule
Speaker 1: in those cases? Well, it can and it can't be. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, looking at these CDs g's is just one
Speaker 1: measure of how much the Justices are relying on the
Speaker 1: Solicitor General and the Trump administration. But even by other measures,
Speaker 1: we see the Trump administration doing very well. And so
Speaker 1: I mentioned that the Obama administration didn't do very well
Speaker 1: in CBS g's but they didn't actually do very well
Speaker 1: in straight wins and losses, although they want a lot
Speaker 1: of high profile cases. But the Trump administration is doing
Speaker 1: much better. Indeed, already for this term, they've got a
Speaker 1: seventy win streak, and that's that's pretty good at the
Speaker 1: U s. Supreme Court, I would say so. Now, the
Speaker 1: Solicitor General has also tried to circumvent the rules a
Speaker 1: little and get the Supreme Court to fast track several cases.
Speaker 1: How successful has that been, Well, that's been more of
Speaker 1: a mixed bag, and that seems somewhat contrary to what
Speaker 1: we've been talking about with the Justices really relying on
Speaker 1: the Solicitor General's office. But one court watcher that I
Speaker 1: talked to pointed out that the Trump administration is doing
Speaker 1: things a little bit more unusually than other administrations. And
Speaker 1: so while they've been turned away a lot by the
Speaker 1: Supreme Court in these requests to kind of skip over
Speaker 1: the lower courts, they've also had a lot more granted
Speaker 1: in their favor. You say that the Justices are going
Speaker 1: to be considering more of the recommendations before the term
Speaker 1: wraps up. Tell us about a yet unscheduled mop up conference.
Speaker 1: Because I love that idea. A mop up conference at
Speaker 1: the Supreme Court. Right, Well, if you were to look
Speaker 1: at the Supreme Court schedule, you would think that there
Speaker 1: are only two more days where the Court is going
Speaker 1: to hand down opinions and only one more day where
Speaker 1: they're going to meet in a private conference and chat
Speaker 1: about what cases they should take up for next term.
Speaker 1: But actually it's a little bit more secretive than that.
Speaker 1: The court watchers know that the Court typically adds an
Speaker 1: extra conference day right at the very end of their
Speaker 1: term so that they can clean up any outstanding cases
Speaker 1: that they want to get going before they take a
Speaker 1: break for the summertime and get briefing off and rolling
Speaker 1: so they're ready for the next term when it comes
Speaker 1: around in October. The Solicitor of General does he argue
Speaker 1: all the cases that the Supreme Court hears that the
Speaker 1: administration has a part in. Well. The Solicitor General's office
Speaker 1: is made up of a number of career attorneys as
Speaker 1: well as some political appointees, and individuals from that office
Speaker 1: will argue not only in cases where the administration is
Speaker 1: a party, but also where they're acting as a friend
Speaker 1: of the court. That is where they'll pick one party
Speaker 1: and they'll argue on their behalf in support of their
Speaker 1: side of the case. And so the Solicitor General usually
Speaker 1: argues some of the most important and consequential cases, but
Speaker 1: his office is involved in many, many cases at the court.
Speaker 1: I think this term it's well over thirty cases that
Speaker 1: have already been decided that his office has participated in
Speaker 1: and only ted where they weren't involved at all. And
Speaker 1: we're coming up to the end of the term, so
Speaker 1: we're gonna be hearing about a lot of the controversial
Speaker 1: cases as well that this listener General has been involved in.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Kimberly, very interesting article. That's Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson,
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Law Editor. Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg Law Podcast.
Speaker 1: You can subscribe and listen to the show on Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: SoundCloud and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. I'm June Brosso.
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