Solicitor General of the United States

United States Solicitor General
Flag of the United States Solicitor General
Incumbent Elizabeth Prelogar since October 28, 2021
Department of Justice Office of the Solicitor General
Reports to	The Attorney General
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Constituting instrument	28 U.S.C. § 505
Formation	October 1870 Prior to this date, the Attorney General exercised most of the duties now performed by the Solicitor General.
First holder	Benjamin H. Bristow
Website	Office of the Solicitor General

The United States Solicitor General is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice.

The United States Solicitor General is the person appointed to represent the federal government of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States. The current Solicitor General, Elizabeth Prelogar, was confirmed by the Senate on October 28, 2021.

The Solicitor General determines the legal position that the United States will take in the Supreme Court. In addition to supervising and conducting cases in which the government is a party, the office of the Solicitor General also files amicus curiae briefs in cases in which the federal government has a significant interest in the legal issue.

The office of the Solicitor General argues on behalf of the government in virtually every case in which the United States is a party, and also argues in most of the cases in which the government has filed an amicus brief.

List of solicitors general

Image	Name	Start	End	President
	Benjamin Bristow	October 11, 1870	November 15, 1872		Ulysses Grant
	Samuel Phillips	December 11, 1872	May 1, 1885
	John Goode	May 1, 1885	August 5, 1886		Grover Cleveland
	George Jenks	July 30, 1886	May 29, 1889
	Orlow Chapman	May 29, 1889	January 19, 1890		Benjamin Harrison
	William Taft	February 4, 1890	March 20, 1892
	Charles Aldrich	March 21, 1892	May 28, 1893
	Lawrence Maxwell	April 6, 1893	January 30, 1895		Grover Cleveland
	Holmes Conrad	February 6, 1895	July 1, 1897
	John Richards	July 6, 1897	March 16, 1903		William McKinley
	Henry Hoyt	February 25, 1903	March 31, 1909		Theodore Roosevelt
	Lloyd Bowers	April 1, 1909	September 9, 1910		William Taft
	Frederick Lehmann	December 12, 1910	July 15, 1912
	William Bullitt	July 16, 1912	March 11, 1913
	John Davis	August 30, 1913	November 26, 1918		Woodrow Wilson
	Alexander King	November 27, 1918	May 23, 1920
	William Frierson	June 1, 1920	June 30, 1921
	James Beck	June 1, 1921	May 11, 1925		Warren Harding
	William Mitchell	June 4, 1925	March 5, 1929		Calvin Coolidge
	Charles Hughes	May 27, 1929	April 16, 1930		Herbert Hoover
	Thomas Thacher	March 22, 1930	May 4, 1933
	James Biggs	May 5, 1933	March 24, 1935		Franklin Roosevelt
	Stanley Reed	March 25, 1935	January 30, 1938
	Robert Jackson	March 5, 1938	January 17, 1940
	Francis Biddle	January 22, 1940	September 4, 1941
	Charles Fahy	November 15, 1941	September 27, 1945
	Howard McGrath	October 4, 1945	October 7, 1946		Harry Truman
	Philip Perlman	July 30, 1947	August 15, 1952
	Walter Cummings	December 2, 1952	March 1, 1953
	Simon Sobeloff	February 10, 1954	July 19, 1956		Dwight Eisenhower
	Lee Rankin	August 4, 1956	January 23, 1961
	Archibald Cox	January 24, 1961	July 31, 1965		John F. Kennedy
	Thurgood Marshall	August 11, 1965	August 30, 1967		Lyndon Johnson
	Erwin Griswold	October 12, 1967	June 25, 1973
	Robert Bork	June 27, 1973	January 20, 1977		Richard Nixon
					Gerald Ford
	Daniel Friedman Acting	January 20, 1977	March 4, 1977		Jimmy Carter
	Wade McCree	March 4, 1977	January 20, 1981
	Rex Lee	August 6, 1981	June 1, 1985		Ronald Reagan
	Charles Fried	June 1, 1985 Acting: June 1, 1985 – October 23, 1985	January 20, 1989
	William Bryson Acting	January 20, 1989	May 27, 1989		George H. W. Bush
	Ken Starr	May 27, 1989	January 20, 1993
	William Bryson Acting	January 20, 1993	June 7, 1993		Bill Clinton
	Drew Days	June 7, 1993	June 28, 1996
	Walter Dellinger Acting	June 28, 1996	November 7, 1997
	Seth Waxman	November 7, 1997	January 20, 2001
	Barbara Underwood Acting	January 20, 2001	June 13, 2001		George W. Bush
	Ted Olson	June 13, 2001	July 13, 2004
	Paul Clement	July 13, 2004 Acting: July 13, 2004 – June 13, 2005	June 2, 2008
	Gregory Garre	June 2, 2008 Acting: June 2, 2008 – October 2, 2008	January 20, 2009
	Edwin Kneedler Acting	January 20, 2009	March 20, 2009		Barack Obama
	Elena Kagan	March 20, 2009	May 17, 2010
	Neal Katyal Acting	May 17, 2010	June 9, 2011
	Don Verrilli	June 9, 2011	June 25, 2016
	Ian Gershengorn Acting	June 25, 2016	January 20, 2017
	Noel Francisco Acting	January 20, 2017	March 10, 2017		Donald Trump
	Jeff Wall Acting	March 10, 2017	September 19, 2017
	Noel Francisco	September 19, 2017	July 3, 2020
	Jeff Wall Acting	July 3, 2020	January 20, 2021
	Elizabeth Prelogar Acting	January 20, 2021	August 11, 2021		Joe Biden
	Brian Fletcher Acting	August 11, 2021	October 28, 2021
	Elizabeth Prelogar	October 28, 2021	present
	D. John Sauer Nominee	TBD			Donald Trump

Note: Some terms overlap because the incumbent remained in office after a successor was named. The office has been vacant at times while awaiting the nomination or confirmation of a successor.