The Rise of the State Solicitor General

This past week, the law school where I teach hosted West Virginia Solicitor General Elbert Lin for a talk to the students.  SG Lin is a graduate of Yale Law.  He has an impressive resume–DOJ Federal Programs, SCOTUS clerkship, BigLaw, and the first solicitor general for the state of West Virginia.

SG Lin’s talk covered the rise of state SGs across the country and the different roles they play.  I was surprised to learn that in 1909 there was only 1 state solicitor general (New York).  In 1987, there were only 8 states with a solicitor general.  Today 41 states have a solicitor general, and 6 additional states have a person whose role is functionally equivalent to a solicitor general.  SG Lin attributed the rise to a number of things, including the prominence of now Sixth Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton, who served as Ohio’s solicitor general in the 1990s.

According to SG Lin, the state SG offices vary in the duties performed.  For example, some state SGs are political, while other serve in a career role.  Some offices handle all appeals, some just the important ones, and others divide on civil v. criminal appeals.

SG Lin sees the state SGs continuing to play an important role in their states and in the country as a whole.  For example, they can serve as a check on the administration by reinforcing federalism principles.  We have certainly seen this with respect to Texas’s challenge to former-President Obama’s immigration policies.  I imagine there will be no shortage of states checking President Trump’s actions as well.

Another interesting factor that SG Lin mentioned was that state SGs can help level the playing field for states at the appellate level.  There is increasingly a very specialized appellate bar, particularly at the Supreme Court level.  Hiring an SG with appellate experience, like Lin, can give the state a leg-up in brief-writing and advocacy.

I really appreciate SG Lin coming to campus and speaking to our students.  His talk was informative and engaging.