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.”
Donald Trump is proposing major budget cuts to foreign aid and green energy in his billion-dollar budget for Fiscal Year 2026.
The proposal includes about $163 billion in cuts to key health, labor and housing programs but will bolster defense spending.
It’s estimated to allot $557 billion for non-defense programs for 2026. Trump is also asking for a record $1 trillion for national security.
Earlier, he pushed for a controversial change to a beloved American federal holiday.
The president announced on Thursday that he would celebrate May 8 as ‘Victory Day for World War II.’
And he plans to rename Veterans Day, calling it ‘Victory Day for World War I.’
Follow along with Daily Mail’s live blog below:
Breaking:Trump White House releases FY2026 budget
President Donald Trump released his budget blueprint on Friday, which contains about $163 billion in cuts to federal education, health, housing and labor programs but boosts defense spending.
Among the areas facing cuts are National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and various climate programs. Education spending would fall by $12 billion.
Trump also wants to cut $500 million from the FBI’s budget. He has complained about the ‘weaponization’ of the government.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department would get a $1.01 trillion increase in funds.
The budget is just a blueprint, showing the president’s priorities as his administration enters negotiations with Congress.
Exclusive:Tulsi Gabbard rips apart ‘wokeness’ in national intelligence with massive anti-DEI wins in first 100 days
Jon Michael Raasch, Political Reporter for DailyMail.com
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is celebrating how many DEI policies she has been able to cancel in the Trump administration’s first 100 days.
During a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Gabbard, 44, told all the president’s people that her agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), is about 25 percent ‘smaller and more lean’ than when she started.
‘During President Trump’s first 100 days in office, I eliminated DEI programs and policies at ODNI, and revoked security clearances and access to classified information for numerous individuals who abused public trust for political purposes,’ Gabbard said in a statement provided to the Daily Mail.
‘We are saving taxpayers millions and ensuring President Trump’s policymakers receive unbiased intelligence assessments to ensure the safety, security, and freedom of the American people.’
The director has already canceled all DEI initiatives at the agency, cut over $150 million in spending, shuttered explicit employee chatrooms called the ‘NSA sex chats’ and more, ODNI staff shared with the Daily Mail.
Trump allies tout ‘huge win’ with massive jobs report
Trump’s move to rename Veterans Day stirs up fury online
Trump’s plan to rename Veterans Day and rename May 8 ‘Victory in World War II Day’ is stirring up reaction online.
One X account, American Veteran, an anti-Trump account with nearly 100,000 followers, posted on the renaming and brough up the president’s multiple deferments during the Vietnam era.
‘Trump, you are a draft dodging coward keep away from our Veterans celebrations. Veterans Day was never to celebrate “victories”, its celebrate service [sic]. Something you don’t know one damn thing about. This is idiotic.’
Political power couple look unrecognizable in ‘stunning’ wedding photo
Influential political duo Mike and Kelly Johnson marked their decades-long wedding anniversary by sharing an unrecognizable throwback photo.
Senator Tuberville booed at Trump speech at University of Alabama
Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded to the jokes that, in addition to all his other duties in the Trump administration, he could be the next pope.
‘No, we thought about it, but you have to – it’s an unmarried Catholic male. You don’t have to be a priest. People don’t know that,’ he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday night.
‘Any unmarried Catholic male can be pope, but I got married and I’m happily married, so I guess I’ll miss out on that one.’
Rubio and his wife Jeanette married in October 1998 and have four children.
In addition to heading the State Department for President Donald Trump, Rubio also serves as the National Security Advisor, the Acting USAID Administrator, and the Acting Archivist.
After Trump gave Rubio his latest job on Thursday – the NSA position – Vice President JD Vance joked on Twitter that Rubio – a devout Catholic – could also be pope.
Pope Francis died April 21st. The conclave to elect a new pontiff begins on May 7th.
Trump announces he is ‘renaming’ Veterans Day and V-E Day because ‘we won both wars’
By Geoff Earle, Deputy U.S. Political Editor
President Donald Trump posted his intention to ‘rename’ May 8th ‘Victory Day’ and rename Veterans Day and Armistice Day as ‘Victory Day for World War I.’
His announcement came in a Truth Social post in advance of the day that has been known as V-E Day or for the Allied victory in Europe.
His post comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin prepares to stage a major parade in Moscow May 9 attended by other world leaders including China’s Xi Jinping to celebrate the Russia’s role in the victory over the Nazis in World War II.
It has been in the news after Putin proposed a temporary ceasefire around the parade even while refusing to back an immediate ceasefire in the war on Ukraine, prompting pushback from Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky said Russia was ‘worried that their parade is in jeopardy, and rightly so,’ raising alarm in Moscow.
‘We won both Wars, nobody was close to us in terms of strength, bravery, or military brilliance, but we never celebrate anything — That’s because we don’t have leaders anymore, that know how to do so! We are going to start celebrating our victories again!’ Trump wrote late Thursday night.
Trump frequently speaks about the importance of ‘winning,’ although the Allied victory in World War II happened more than 80 years ago. The Soviet Union lost a staggering number of troops, estimated at between 9 and 11 million, in the effort on the Eastern Front.
Congress has designated the existing federal holidays, so it was not immediately clear what the impact of Trump’s proclamation would be.
Trump targets Harvard’s tax exempt status
President Donald Trump announced on Friday he’s taking away Harvard’s tax exempt status as he escalates his war on ivy league universities.
‘We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!,’ he wrote on Truth Social.
The president, since taking office in January, has gone after America’s elite schools by freezing their federal funding and revoking student visas as part of the fallout from protests on campuses against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Harvard has been fighting the administration’s new demands.
April jobs report beats expectations
Employers in the United States added 177,000 jobs in April, pushing past analyst predictions of 135,000.
The unemployment rate remained at 4.2 percent, the same rate as March.
The news was reassuring to the markets, as analysts were watching for any changes as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and dramatic cuts in the federal workforce.
MAGA star who influenced Trump aide ‘bloodbath’ firings hints she was behind Mike Waltz’s ouster
Provocative far-right commentator Laura Loomer hinted that she may have helped oust Mike Waltz from his national security adviser role.
Loomer told journalist Tara Palmeri that she had sounded the alarm about Waltz’s anti-Trump past and claimed he hadn’t vetted his staff to weed out liberals.
Waltz has been a lightning rod for controversy in the still-nascent second Trump administration. He has been to blame for accidentally leaking military plans to the press via an unfortunate Signal group chat.
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Trump pushes eye-popping slashes for Americans in multibillion-dollar budget proposal: Live updates
