President Trump ended a circuitous search for the government’s top advocate before the Supreme Court by nominating Washington lawyer Noel J. Francisco as the next solicitor general. He might be best known as the lawyer who ­represented former Virginia ­governor Robert F. McDonnell last year when the Supreme Court unanimously overturned McDonnell’s conviction on corruption charges. The small but elite solicitor general’s office is staffed mostly by career attorneys, with only two political appointees. Francisco, meanwhile, has been in the office since January in the principal deputy’s job, and serving as the acting solicitor general. Besides his win in the McDonnell case, Francisco has argued two other times at the Supreme Court.

Source: Washington Post March 08, 2017 16:41 UTC