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.”
A Fox News poll showed Trump had his best rating on the issue of border security, with 55 percent approval, but his approval on tariffs was only 33 percent.
Trump slammed the polls as ‘fake’ and called pollsters ‘negative criminals.’
Follow the latest with the DailyMail.com blog
Trump fires back as he hits his lowest approval rating ever calling pollsters ‘negative criminals’
President Trump has slammed pollsters on Truth Social. He wrote:
These people should be investigated for ELECTION FRAUD, and add in the FoxNews Pollster while you’re at it.
They are Negative Criminals who apologize to their subscribers and readers after I WIN ELECTIONS BIG, much bigger than their polls showed I would win, loose a lot of credibility, and then go on cheating and lying for the next cycle, only worse. They suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, and there is nothing that anyone, or anything, can do about it. THEY ARE SICK, almost only write negative stories about me no matter how well I am doing.
Exclusive:Married Republican fires back at ‘extortion’ scheme after x-rated gay porn pics exposed
Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com
A Republican candidate in Virginia’s statewide elections is in hot water for allegedly being linked to a social media account chock-full of gay porn, but he says its an extortion tactic.
Candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, John Reid, who is gay and married, was asked last week by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to drop his bid for office because of explicit social media posts on a Tumblr account with the same handle Reid has used on other sites.
The handle in question, ‘jrdeux,’ has been used by the candidate on Instagram and its sister site Threads. Reid’s husband, Alonzo Mable, even tagged his spouse in social media posts using the ‘jrdeux’ moniker.
More controversial is a Tumblr account by the same name, which has posted a litany of gay pornographic images and kinks, like toe sucking.
However, Reid, a former radio host who is the first openly-gay candidate to ever run for statewide office in Virginia, has denied the Tumblr account is his. He is now saying that Youngkin’s political operation is extorting him with further damaging information if he does not drop out of the contest.
The Eagles have landed
The champion Philadelphia Eagles are on their way to the White House for an event on the South Lawn with President Trump.
Quaterback Jalen Hurts is skipping the event, but star running back Saquon Barkley, who golfed with Trump over the weekend, will be there along with other stars.
GOP guru reveals what Trump must do to reverse worrying polling numbers
Frank Luntz, a political consultant and pollster, told CNN‘s Jessica Dean on Sunday that the change is ‘significant’ – and suggested that the president change his messaging on key issues if he ever wants to see his approval ratings shoot back up.
Longtime Virginia congressman announces he will step down due to cancer diagnosis
Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., announced on Monday he will not seek re-election due to a cancer diagnosis.
Connolly, who has served in the House since 2008, will soon step down as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, he said in a statement.
‘When I announced my diagnosis six months ago, I promised transparency,’ he wrote in a statement. ‘After grueling treatments, we’ve learned that the cancer, while initially beaten back, has now returned.’
‘The sun is setting on my time in public service, and this will be my last term in Congress,’ he continued.
‘With no rancor and a full heart, I move into this final chapter full of pride in what we’ve accomplished together over 30 years.’
Tom Homan says there are 20 million illegal immigrants in US
Tom Homan on Noem purse thief: ‘He picked the wrong person’
Karoline Leavitt says man deported from Maryland to El Salvador ‘belongs’ there
Karoline Leavitt said the El Salvadoran man the administration deported from Maryland to a notorious prison ‘belongs’ in his home country.
She was asked if there were any talks to bring about his return, after the Supreme Court ruled officials must ‘facilitate’ his return.
‘I will tell you what the president of El Salvador told all of you in the Oval Office,’ the White House press secretary told reporters.
‘El Salvador does not intend to smuggle a designated foreign terrorist back into the United States. He is an El Salvadorian national that is his home country. That is where he belongs, and the administration intends to comply with what President Bukele said of El Salvador,’ she said.
She didn’t directly respond to a question about whether there were any ongoing negotiations about it.
Border czar weights in on suspect who stole Kristi Noem’s puse
Border czar Tom Homan had a sharp response following the arrest of a suspect accused of snatching Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s purse at a DC restaurant
‘You picked the wrong person to steal a purse from,’ Homan said at the White House, earning laughs form some members of the press in the room at a briefing.
He otherwise offered no new information on the case, following the theft of the bag containing Noem’s license, keys, security ID, passport, and $3,000 in cash during an Easter meal even while Noem was under guard of her security detail.
He also praised Noem, calling her a ‘game changer’ and disavowing any differences. ‘Me and Kristi are attached at the hip,’ he said, saying there was ‘no daylight’ between them.
Trump is ‘frustrated’ with Russia and Ukraine, Karoline Leavitt says in latest comments on ceasefire talks
By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump is ‘frustrated’ with Russia and Ukraine following repeated Russian drone attacks, in the latest guarded assessment of Trump’s peace effort.
‘He is increasingly frustrated with leaders of both countries. He wants to see a permanent ceasefire,’ Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
‘I understand Vladimir Putin this morning offered a temporary ceasefire. The President has made it clear he wants to see a permanent ceasefire first to stop the killing, stop the bloodshed. And while he remains optimistic he can strike a deal, he’s also being realistic as well, and both league leaders need to come to the table to negotiate their way out of this.’
She spoke after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Rome for about 15 minutes on his visit to the funeral for Pope Francis. She said I shows ‘exuding a lot of effort and time into this because he wants to be a peacemaker president.’
Trump approval on tariffs is 33 percent, Fox poll shows
A Fox News poll showed where Trump stands at 100 days on various issues.
Trump had his best approval rating on border security with a 55 percent approval rating.
However. it was the only issue on which he had majority approval.
his approval rating for immigration was 47 percent with 48 percent disapproving.
On the economy he hit a low of 38 percent approval, with 56 percent disapproving.
Trump’s worst approval rating was jointly on the issues of tariffs and inflation at 33 percent.
CNN poll shows Trump on 41 percent approval
A CNN poll marking President Trump’s first 100 days had him on 41 percent approval.
The network said it was the lowest for a newly elected president.
Trump’s rating was down four points since March, and down seven points since late February.
DOGE puts wrecking ball through government department
’60 Minutes’ star goes rogue on Trump
Trump approval at 100 days revealed in flurry of new polls
An NBC News poll had Trump at 45 percent approval as he approaches 100 days in office.
The survey found 55 percent of Americans disapprove of his performance.
Its online survey of nearly 20,000 voters adults was conducted from April 11 to April 20.
Share or comment on this article:
Trump goes nuclear on ‘criminal’ pollsters including Fox News as he hits lowest approval rating: Live updates
