The United States Solicitor General is the individual tasked with arguing for the United States Government in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, when the government is party to a case.
The Solicitor General works within the United States Department of Justice; (s)he is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Solicitors General Since 1870
Name
Date of Service
Under which President
Benjamin H. Bristow
October 1870 - November 1872
Grant
Samuel F. Phillips
November 1872 - May 1885
Grant
John Goode (Acting)
May 1885 - August 1886
Cleveland
George A. Jenks
July 1886 - May 1889
Cleveland
Orlow W. Chapman
May 1889 - January 1890
Harrison
William Howard Taft
February 1890 - March 1892
Harrison
Charles H. Aldrich
March 1892 - May 1893
Harrison
Lawrence Maxwell, Jr
April 1893 - January 1895
Cleveland
Holmes Conrad
February 1895 - July 1897
Cleveland
John K. Richards
July 1897 - March 1903
McKinley
Henry M. Hoyt
February 1903 - March 1909
Roosevelt
Lloyd Wheaton Bowers
April 1909 - September 1910
Taft
Frederick W. Lehmann
December 1910 - July 1912
Taft
William Marshall Bullit
July 1912 - March 1913
Taft
John William Davis
August 1913 - November 1918
Wilson
Alexander C. King
November 1918 - May 1920
Wilson
William L. Frierson
June 1920 - June 1921
Wilson
James M. Beck
June 1921 - June 1925
Harding
William D. Mitchell
June 1925 - March 1929
Coolidge
Charles Evans Hughes.
May 1929 - April 1930
Hoover
Thomas D. Thacher
March 1930 - May 1933
Hoover
James Crawford Biggs
May 1933 - March 1935
Roosevelt
Stanley F. Reed
March 1935 - January 1938
Roosevelt
Robert H. Jackson
March 1938 - January 1940
Roosevelt
Francis Biddle
January 1940 - September 1941
Roosevelt
Charles Fahy
November 1941 - September 1945
Roosevelt
J. Howard McGrath
October 1945 - October 1946
Truman
Philip B. Perlman
July 1947 - August 1952
Truman
Walter J. Cummings, Jr.
December 1952 - March 1953
Truman
Simon E. Sobeloff
February 1954 - July 1956
Dwight D. Eisenhower
J. Lee Rankin
August 1956 - January 1961
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Archibald Cox
January 1961 - July 1965
John F. Kennedy
Thurgood Marshall
August 1965 - August 1967
Lyndon Johnson
Erwin N. Griswold
October 1967 - June 1973
Lyndon Johnson
Robert H. Bork
June 1973 - January 1977
Richard Nixon
Wade H. McCree
March 1977 - August 1981
Jimmy Carter
Rex E. Lee
August 1981 - June 1985
Ronald Reagan
Charles Fried
October 1985 - January 1989
Ronald Reagan
Kenneth W. Starr
May 1989 - January 1993
George H. W. Bush
Drew S. Days, III
May 1993 - July 1996
Bill Clinton
Seth P. Waxman
November 1997 - January 2001
Bill Clinton
Theodore B. Olson
June 2001 -
George W. Bush
