The powerhouse Washington lawyer reportedly in line to become deputy solicitor general is a sign the Biden administration is preparing for battle on its unraveling of Trump administration issues, CNN reported.
President Joe Biden is expected to tap Elizabeth Prelogar, who worked on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia interference probe, as deputy solicitor general — and she'd be acting solicitor general until Biden’s permanent nominee is confirmed, the National Law Journal first reported.
CNN noted that when a presidential election results in a change in party controlling the White House, the solicitor general plays a key role in managing potential reversals on policies and issues.
For example, the news outlet reported, the solicitor general's office is likely to notify the U.S. Supreme Court of a new position in a dispute over the future of Obamacare — defending it rather than seeking to overturn it.
Besides her role in Mueller’s probe, Prelogar worked as a former clerk to Judge Merrick Garland, Biden's nominee for attorney general, as well as for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Justice Elena Kagan.
But the Biden solicitor general's office has to be careful not to irritate high court justices who expect the government to be acting in the long-term interests of the United States, and not on the wishes of a president, CNN reported.
"The credibility of the office in great measure depends on the idea that judges actually believe that is what you are doing," Kagan, who served as President Barack Obama's solicitor general before her elevation to the high court, said in 2018, CNN reported.
"I think changing positions is a really big deal that people should hesitate a long time over, which is not to say it never happens.”
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