President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate D. John Sauer as the solicitor general of the United States on Thursday. Trump praised Sauer as a deeply accomplished and masterful appellate attorney in his statement.
D. John Sauer, aged 50, possesses the credentials often associated with the country’s top lawyer before the Supreme Court. A Rhodes Scholar and Harvard Law School graduate, Sauer clerked for Judge J. Michael Luttig on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit and later for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. He also served as a federal prosecutor for five years.
Donald Trump’s recent victory at the polls has had significant implications for ongoing legal proceedings and his administration’s nominations.
His work with Trump was instrumental in securing Sauer’s job. In February, Trump lost a case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but he appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed to hear his case, and oral arguments were presented in late April. The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that former presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for their official acts. As a result, the election-interference charges against Trump were sent back to a federal trial court in Washington, D.C., for U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to reassess. With Trump’s electoral triumph, Special Counsel Jack Smith indicated his intention to cease the prosecution and resign before Trump’s inauguration. Shortly after announcing his intention to nominate Sauer, Trump also declared his plan to nominate Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general. Blanche, a criminal defense attorney, represented Trump in his state criminal trial in New York for falsifying business records, making this the second-highest-ranking position in the Department of Justice.
