President Donald Trump has announced that he plans to nominate Noel Francisco, who is currently serving as the acting solicitor general after originally being named the principal deputy solicitor general, to serve as the solicitor general. The announcement comes nearly a month after Charles Cooper, a prominent Washington lawyer who was regarded as the front runner to fill the slot, announced that he was withdrawing from consideration.
Before joining the Trump administration, Francisco was a partner in the Washington office of Jones Day. During his stint in private practice, he argued several high-profile cases at the court, including Governor Robert McDonnell’s successful challenge to his bribery conviction, a bottling company’s challenge to the constitutionality of recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board, and a challenge to the accommodation offered by the federal government to religious nonprofits that objected to providing their female employees with health insurance that includes access to certain forms of birth control. Before joining Jones Day, Francisco served in the George W. Bush administration, in both the White House and the Office of Legal Counsel.
Jeffrey Wall, a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell, will be named the principal deputy solicitor general. Wall has argued at the court 11 times, both while in private practice and in his prior job as an assistant to the solicitor general.
