Washington attorney Charles Cooper likely to get nod as U.S. solicitor general

[Draggingtree]

Scotus:

Amy Howe Reporter and Independent Contractor

Posted Wed, February 8th, 2017 1:07 pm

 

Washington attorney Charles Cooper likely to get nod as U.S. solicitor general

 

Posted Wed, February 8th, 2017 1:07 pm by Amy Howe

 

Reports indicate that President Donald Trump intends to nominate Charles Cooper, a well-liked and well-respected Washington lawyer who served in the Reagan administration, to serve as the U.S. solicitor general. Cooper is perhaps best known for his defense of California’s Proposition 8, which barred same-sex marriage in that state. By a vote of 5-4, the justices ruled that the proponents of the law did not have a legal right to defend the ban in court after state officials had declined to do so.

 

If nominated and confirmed, Cooper would bring a strong conservative pedigree to the job. He graduated first in his class from the University of Alabama Law School and then went on to serve as law clerk to then-Justice William H. Rehnquist. In 1981, he joined the Reagan administration by taking a job in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; four years later, he became the head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. Since 1988, Cooper has worked as a lawyer in private practice,