The 10th Justice?

 

The NLJ has Is the Solicitor General Still 'The Tenth Justice'? -- "That premise is no longer conventional wisdom," said law professor Lincoln Caplan, who has studied the office for decades.

• As the Department of Justice’s top Supreme Court lawyer, the U.S. solicitor general enjoys a degree of respect and deference from the members of the nation’s highest court that few, if any, other members of the bar hold. It is why over the last century the position has often been referred to as “The Tenth Justice.”
• Yet close observers of the office have noted a slow, yet significant shift in the role of the solicitor general since it earned its reputation as a mostly neutral advocate for the development of American law in the mid-20th century.
• Today, they say, the office is far more aggressive in advocating for the administration’s position. Far more than a steward of good jurisprudence, the solicitor general is now considered a key player in the success of a president’s agenda. Although it’s a trend experts say began decades ago, it has only sharpened in recent terms with the increased politicization of the court system, and the rise in the use of the court’s emergency docket.