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.”
The president said that he’s getting close to maybe doing a deal,’ he said at a breakfast with business leaders in Doha.
‘We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace… if we do that it will be fantastic.’
He warned that Iran ‘can’t have nuclear weapons.’
He later spoke to U.S. troops at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar before departing for the United Arab Emirites.
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Trump says U.S. close to nuclear deal with Iran
By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent
President Donald Trump said the United States is very close to securing a deal with Iran that would include Tehran agreeing to no nuclear weapons.
He said Tehran had ‘sort of’ agreed to the terms.
‘We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal,’ he said at a breakfast with business leaders in Doha. ‘We’re in very serious negotiations with Iran for long-term peace. … If we do that it will be fantastic.’
Trump said he wants a deal done.
‘I want them to succeed. I want them to end up being a great country frankly, but they can’t have a nuclear weapons,’ he noted of Tehran.
Iran is willing to sign a deal that would allow it to enrich uranium to the lower levels needed for civilian uses. The deal alsp would require Tehran to give up its stockpiles of highly enriched uranium in exchange for lifting all sanctions, NBC News reported.
Trump’s latest pitch for Gaza: ‘Make it a freedom zone’
By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent in Doha, Qatar
President Donald Trump’s latest pitch for Gaza is to turn the war-torn Palestinian territory into a ‘freedom zone.’
Trump made the pitch Thursday morning in front of business leaders in Doha, during this week’s three-country tour of the Middle East.
Qatar has been the host site of Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks.
Arab leaders had previously bristled at Trump’s suggestion to turn Gaza into the ‘Riviera of the Middle East,’ as the president gave an imprecise answer on what would happen to the Palestinians living there.
‘I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good, make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,’ Trump said Thursday morning. ‘I’d be proud to have the United States have it, take it, make it a freedom zone.’
Trump’s original pitch to turn Gaza into a ‘Riviera’ – as opposed to a Palestinian state – led Arab leaders to call an emergency meeting in Cairo to come up with their own plan.
Trump slams Buttigieg amid 2028 speculation
By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent
President Donald Trump ridiculed Pete Buttigieg as the former Transportation Secretary is mulling a run for president in 2028.
‘Can you believe it — he’s running the biggest air system in the world, and he takes a bicycle to work, what a — and they say he’s going to run for president. I don’t see it. Who knows but I don’t see it,’ Trump said during a breakfast with business leaders in Doha.
Buttigieg visited Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wednesday, sparking speculation he’ll run for president again. He’s also emerged as a fierce critic of the Trump administration.
‘There is a parade of horribles emanating from this White House,’ Buttigieg said, adding: ‘The American people bow to no king.’
Buttigieg also noted that on his last trip to the state: ‘I was sort of winning the Iowa caucus.’
India wants ‘no tariffs’ trade deal, Trump says
By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent
President Donald Trump said India had offered the U.S a trade deal that proposed ‘no tariffs.’
‘It is very hard to sell in India, and they are offering us a deal where basically they are willing to literally charge us no tariffs,’ Trump said in a meeting with business leaders in Doha.
Trump had initiated a 26 percent import tax on India but then instituted a 90-day pause to allow for negotiations.
The U.S. is India’s largest trading partner.
Trump renews third term talk
By Emily Goodin, senior White House correspondent
President Donald Trump renewed speculation he’d run for a third term in a speech to U.S. troops stationed in Qatar.
‘We won three elections, ok? And some people want us to do a fourth. I don’t know. We’ll have to think about that,’ he said.
He also noted the speculation drives Democrats crazy.
‘The hottest hat is, it says Trump 2028. We’re driving the left crazy when you see that,’ he added.
Trump says he could still go to Turkey for Russia-Ukraine peace talks that Putin is skipping
By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent in Doha, Qatar
President Donald Trump kept the door open to showing up to the Russia-Ukraine negotiations that are expected to happen in Turkey on Thursday.
‘I was thinking about going, but it’s very tough because of what we’re doing today and tomorrow. But you know, if something happened, I’d go on Friday if it was appropriate,’ Trump said.
The status of the peace talks is unclear.
Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to attend, sending aides and deputy ministers instead of going himself.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is headed to Turkey but said he wouldn’t attend the high-stakes talks unless Putin was there as well.
Trump pays tribute to U.S. troops
President Donald Trump offered a love letter to American troops on Thursday when he spoke at the biggest American base in the Middle East and offered his personal thanks to a soldier who helped during the Butler assassination attempt.
Trump held a campaign-style rally at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar – complete with his signature song and dance moves – as he thanked the military for its political support and promised to ‘end conflicts’ around the world.
‘As president, it’s my priority is to end conflicts, not start them, but I will never hesitate to wield American power if it’s necessary to defend the United States of America,’ he said.
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Donald Trump leaves Qatar with chilling final warning for Iran on nuclear deal: Live updates
