After a routine Supreme Court argument on Wednesday, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. asked the lawyer who had represented the government to return to the lectern.
“You have just presented your 160th argument before this court, and I understand it is intended to be your last,” the chief justice told the lawyer, Edwin S. Kneedler, who is retiring as a deputy solicitor general. “That is the record for modern times.”
Chief Justice Roberts talked a little more, with affection and high praise, thanking Mr. Kneedler for his “extraordinary care and professionalism.”
Then something remarkable happened. Applause burst out in the courtroom, and that led to a standing ovation for Mr. Kneedler, with the justices joining, too.
“It was a rare moment of unanimity and spontaneous joy from all nine justices on the bench,” said Richard Lazarus, a law professor at Harvard. “They were all beaming.”
Kannon Shanmugam, a veteran Supreme Court lawyer, said it was “one of the most electric moments I’ve ever seen in the courtroom.”
The tribute to Mr. Kneedler’s candor and integrity came against the backdrop of a different kind of courtroom behavior. In the early months of the second Trump administration, its lawyers have been accused of gamesmanship, dishonesty and defiance, and have been fired for providing frank answers to judges.
Mr. Kneedler presented a different model, former colleagues said.
“Ed is the embodiment of the government lawyer ideal — one whose duty of candor to the court and interest in doing justice, not just winning a case, always carried the day,” said Gregory G. Garre, who served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush.
Mr. Shanmugam said Mr. Kneedler’s loyalty was to the rule of law. “He would much rather get the law right at the risk of losing,” Mr. Shanmugam said, “than win at the cost of misrepresenting the law.”
Seth P. Waxman, who was solicitor general in the Clinton administration, said Mr. Kneedler was the opposite of a partisan.
“In all the years that I worked with Ed in the Justice Department, I did not know his politics,” Mr. Waxman said.
Mr. Kneedler joined the Office of the Solicitor General, the elite unit of the Justice Department that represents the federal government in the Supreme Court, in 1979, served in many administrations and helped tutor the solicitors general who came and went.
“I was incredibly lucky to have Ed as a deputy when I was S.G.,” Justice Elena Kagan, who served as solicitor general in the Obama administration, said in a statement. “There’s pretty much no legal question he can’t answer. And he has a bone-deep understanding of the traditions and ethos of the S.G.’s office.”
She added: “I learned from him every day, and I did my job far better because he was there. In all the time I’ve spent in government, I’ve never known a finer public servant.”
That was something like a consensus view among former solicitors general. Mr. Waxman, for instance, called Mr. Kneedler “a national treasure.”
Noel J. Francisco, the solicitor general in the first Trump administration, said that Mr. Kneedler was “not just a font of knowledge, but of wisdom.”
Elizabeth B. Prelogar, the solicitor general in the Biden administration, said that “Ed Kneedler represents the very best of what it means to be a lawyer for the United States.”
Mr. Kneedler’s retirement is part of a wave of departures from the solicitor general’s office, which is quite small. After the solicitor general and a handful of deputies, there are just 16 line lawyers. About half of them are leaving, The Washington Post reported this month.
Mr. Kneedler, 79, did not respond to requests for an interview. When he received an award this month from the University of Virginia’s law school, his alma mater, he said he was “a career civil servant, not in the press if I can avoid it.”
At the ceremony, Mr. Kneedler gave extended remarks, making points that in another era might have seemed unremarkable. These days, they verged on provocative.
Calling himself a “citizen lawyer,” he praised the many federal employees he had worked with, saying he had been impressed by their “compassion and understanding for our country, and dedication to our country.”
He said his office analyzed legal issues with rigor and care, at least in cases on the court’s regular docket. Since Mr. Trump took office in January, the government has filed a torrent of emergency applications on what critics call the court’s shadow docket.
“When we don’t have emergencies like we have a number of now,” Mr. Kneedler said, “we have a very structured decision-making process.”
Leslie Kendrick, the Virginia law school’s dean, asked Mr. Kneedler a few questions, one of which was premised on his office’s “commitment to providing nonpartisan representation for the United States, regardless of cause, regardless of the political leadership of the other two branches.”
Mr. Kneedler did not quite adopt the premise. “We are lawyers for the United States,” he said, “and the administration in office is the ultimate determiner of what the interests of the United States are.”
But he ended his remarks on a hopeful note. “We’re all part of a process that is leading us to a more perfect union,” he said, “which means a union in which we are coming together, not apart.”
Before the standing ovation at the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Chief Justice Roberts, himself a veteran of the solicitor general’s office, added what he called a personal note as he spoke to Mr. Kneedler.
“I recall that on two occasions you and I argued on the same side here, me representing a private client and you the United States,” the chief justice said. “We lost each of those cases. I’m sure it was my fault. Mr. Kneedler, thank you for your outstanding service to court and country.”
Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs’s ex-girlfriend and main accuser Cassie Ventura will resume her testimony against him on Wednesday.
The pregnant singer, 38, shared harrowing testimony in the music mogul’s sex-trafficking and racketeering trial in New York, claiming she was coerced into participating in horrific sex sessions that could last up to four days.
In humiliating detail, she recounted a turbulent 10-year relationship with Combs that she said was consumed by violence and his obsession with a form of voyeurism where ‘he was controlling the whole situation.’
That included directing her encounters with male sex workers right down to the copious amounts of baby oil she applied to maintain the ‘glistening’ look he desired – as many as 10 large bottles a session.
Combs’ defense says he is guilty of domestic violence, but not of sex-trafficking or racketeering, and that the government is targeting him for his sexual preferences.
All the explosive testimony from inside Diddy courtroom
Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs’ twins Jessie and D’Lila have admitted the past couple of years have been ‘extremely difficult’ since he was arrested for a string of depraved crimes.
Sharing a tribute to their late mom Kim Porter on Mother’s Day – which took place on Sunday May 11 – they shared how had life has been without her since her death in November 2018.
Heartbreaking evidence photo shows Cassie with ex-best friend
The jury in Diddy’s trial was shown a 2004 photo of Cassie Ventura hugging model Kerry Morgan while they sat on a lounge chair.
Cassie said it was taken during her early modeling days in New York City, shortly after she met Diddy.
The singer once considered Morgan her best friend but their friendship took a turn after an alleged violent incident involving the music mogul in 2018.
Cassie said in her lawsuit they were ‘inseperable’ until Diddy hit Morgan with a hanger, causing a concussion.
Diddy and Kerry eventually settled out of court, with Cassie claiming the rapper also paid Kerry additional cash to ‘smooth things over.’
Below, the former best friends are pictured in 2007.
Diddy’s lawyer’s astonishing request of eight-and-a-half-months-pregnant Cassie
Lawyers for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs requested if the rap mogul’s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura could be readily seated when she testifies against her ex in court, instead of walking to the stand in front of the jury.
Marc Agnifilo, one of Combs’ attorneys, made a request of District Court Judge Arun Subramanian to stop her from walking to the stand in front of potential jurors, hoping to avoid emotionally swaying from those deciding his fate.
Who is on the Diddy jury?
Eight men and four women are on the final panel of 12 with a further four men and two women listed as alternates. On the main juror panel, four are white, two are Hispanic, five are black and one is Asian. Of the six alternates, four are white and two are black.
Cassie names the entourage Diddy ‘would use to help control her’
During her testimony on Tuesday, Cassie mentioned several of Diddy’s employees and allies, including his ‘trusted assistants’ Kristina Khoram and Neil Dominic.
Khoram was previously named by others as a ‘fixer’, who allegedly helped Diddy set up the infamous freak offs.
‘Everything from scheduling to what kind of mood he was in,’ Cassie said when asked what she discussed with Khoram. ‘I talked to [Khoram] about a lot. She knew a lot of my personal things.’
Cassie also claimed Diddy’s security guard, R. Rock ‘used to take away her things as punishment’ on the mogul’s direction. She also said the guard would come find her when she tried to hide from Diddy.
‘[I’d] get my car taken away, get kicked out of an apartment, I’d have jewerly taken away… It was very random depending on how [Diddy] felt.’
She also mentioned other security guards for Diddy, including Roger Bonds, Uncle Paulie, Faheem and Malik.
Kristina Khorram – once referred to as ‘the Ghislaine Maxwell to [Diddy’s] Jeffrey Epstein‘ – has not been accused of any wrongdoing or charged with any crimes. However, several ‘high ranking supervisors’ are mentioned, but not named, in a criminal indictment against the rapper.
Read the full story below:
Diddy’s twin daughters address ‘extremely difficult’ two years
Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs’ twins Jessie and D’Lila have admitted the past couple of years have been ‘extremely difficult’ since he was arrested for a string of depraved crimes.
Sharing a tribute to their late mom Kim Porter on Mother’s Day – which took place on Sunday May 11 – they shared how had life has been without her since her death in November 2018.
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Diddy trial latest: Jury shown heartbreaking photos of ‘abused’ Cassie Ventura and best friend Kerry Morgan as testimony resumes
