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Attorney General Bonta Announces Appointment of Samuel Harbourt as California Solicitor General

• California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the appointment of Samuel Harbourt to the position of California Solicitor General. Harbourt will serve as the chief appellate lawyer for the California Department of Justice, managing the Office of the Solicitor General in overseeing civil and criminal appeals. Harbourt will continue the work of outgoing Solicitor General Michael Mongan, who is departing after six years of outstanding, dedicated service in the post and after 11 years of service within the Office of the Solicitor General.
• Prior to joining the California Department of Justice, Harbourt clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Harbourt also worked as a Managing Associate in the Supreme Court & Appellate Group at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. Prior to that, he served as a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Solicitor General, and as a research assistant for Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe.
• Harbourt received his Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. He lives in San Francisco with his husband and was recently profiled as part of the “Meet Your DOJ” series. In 2021, Harbourt was named by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association as one of the 40 Best LGBTQ+ Lawyers Under 40. Over the past several years, Harbourt has served on the board of the Bay Area Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society.
• Harbourt will officially assume his new post on October 1.

The DJ has Bonta taps Samuel Harbourt as California's next solicitor general -- A former clerk to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who has already argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, Samuel Harbourt will begin his new job Oct. 1.

The Recorder has Samuel Harbourt Named California's Next Solicitor General

In a biographical video posted to the attorney general's website prior to his appointment announcement, Harbourt talked about his early interest in public service—he built a pretend voting booth when he was 4 so he and his friends could "vote" in the 1992 election—and his fear growing up as a closeted gay teen in conservative Louisiana.