With all the hubbub over the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, most people forgot that – if confirmed – Kagan’s new job will leave the Obama administration with yet another vacancy: solicitor general.

So who will get that nod?

Folks at the White House say they haven’t even thought about that yet. But according to an Atlantic piece (via the WSJ’s Law Blog), there are already clues that Don Verrilli, an associate White House counsel, could get that nod.

The former associate deputy attorney general recently moved from Main Justice to the White House to take his current position.

In any other universe that would be a demotion for someone with Verrilli’s resume, the Atlantic‘s Marc Ambinder notes. But here, it seems like the wheels were being put in motion to prep a successor to the SG:

Verrilli knew he was paying a transient occupancy tax: the White House needed a better relationship with the Justice Department, and Verrillii, a low-key, get-along guy, was just the ticket. Verrilli spent years at Jenner and Block in Washington, representing a diverse array of clients. Copyright law is one of his specialties; he’s known as the “guy who killed Grokster” on behalf of Viacom. Verrillii has argued frequently before the Supreme Court.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 6:18 am and is filed under Department of Justice, Supreme Court, White House. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.