How does one become solicitor general?
As with a Supreme Court justice, the solicitor general is appointed by the president and must then be confirmed by a Senate vote. While there is no specific term limit for the position, most solicitors general serve at most for the duration of the administration they serve. What are the solicitor general’s main responsibilities? How is the job different from attorney general? The work of the solicitor general’s office can essentially be broken down into three separate duties. The first is to act as the chief counsel representing the federal government in cases before the Supreme Court, which involves helping to formulate the government’s position and conducting oral argument. Charles Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School who was solicitor general from 1985-1989, said that this task requires an exceptionally skilled attorney. “There is a very great assumption not what the solicitor general is saying is correct, that she has a better argument, but that the statement of the facts will
