Reading Room Document

Role of the Solicitor General

This document discusses the institutional relationship between the Attorney General and the Solicitor General, as well as the role each should play in formulating and presenting the Government's position in litigation before the Supreme Court. It concludes that the Solicitor General was not created to relieve the Attorney General of responsibility, but to provide assistance at the Attorney General's direction. The document also presents questions for review, such as the circumstances in which the Attorney General should intervene in cases, the procedural and substantive considerations that should guide the exercise of that power, and the distinction between questions of law and questions of policy.

September 29, 1977