Neal Katyal now serving as Acting Solicitor General

This post from SCOTUSblog today provides a notable update to the always-important question of who is the US Government's litigator-in-chief:

U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, awaiting Senate review of her nomination to the Supreme Court, notified the Court on Monday that she has stepped aside from her present job, and that her deputy, Neal K. Katyal, will run the office as Acting Solicitor General.  She asked that the Court staff “address future correspondence” to Katyal, and show him as counsel-of-record on all of the government’s pleadings in the Court.  She said the switch became effective with her nomination on May 10.

I have been a fan and a friend of Neal's since he interviewed for a clerkship the year after me when I was working for Second Circuit judge Guido Calabresi.  For that reason and many others, I am very pleased to learn that Neal has taken over, at least for now, the job of Solicitor General.  It will be interesting to see if he or someone else gets nominated to take over that position permanently in the months ahead. 

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