Verrilli as SG gets committee OK
on May 12, 2011 at 10:46 pm
Solicitor General-nominee Donald B. Verrilli, Jr., won approval Thursday from the Senate Judiciary Committee, by a 17-1 vote — a margin that appears to signal that he will win confirmation in the full Senate. Seven of the eight Republicans on the Committee joined with all ten Democrats in voting for the nominee, although GOP Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said his support was “tepid.” Only GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama voted against Verrilli.
Nina Totenberg’s story on the National Public Radio website discusses the Committee’s reaction.
If confirmed by the Senate, Verrilli will succeed Elena Kagan as SG — the government’s top advocate before the Supreme Court. Kagan, of course, is now a Supreme Court Justice. Presumably, Verrilli will be in office in time for the opening of the Court’s new Term, on Oct. 3.
Since Kagan’s appointment to the Court, her deputy, Neal K. Katyal, has been serving as Acting Solicitor General throughout the Court’s current Term. He is expected to return to the law faculty at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
