Former SG Drew S. Days

While it may be several months — or longer — before President-elect Barack Obama has an opportunity to fill a seat on the Supreme Court, his administration could still have an immediate impact at the high court.One of Obama's early appointments after he takes office is likely to be a new U.S. solicitor general, the government's top lawyer before the court.Solicitor General advocates a technical legal position based upon the President's political position. Above and beyond actually arguing cases before the Court, the Solicitor General's office files amicus briefs in virtually every case of significance to the federal government, even if it is not directly involved.

Scott Drake talks to former Solicitor General and Yale Law Professor Drew Days.

Drew S. Days, III, has been the Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law at Yale Law School since 1991. He joined the faculty in 1981. At Yale, his teaching and writing have been in the fields of civil procedure, federal jurisdiction, Supreme Court practice, antidiscrimination law, comparative constitutional law (Canada and the United States), and international human rights. He was the founding director of the Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for Human Rights at Yale Law School in 1988 and served as its director until 1993. He has been a staff member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Carter Administration, and U.S. Solicitor General in the Clinton Administration. Professor Days is the author of two volumes on United States Supreme Court jurisprudence, practice, and rules: Moore's Federal Practice, Third Edition, and most recently, of 'Feedback Loop': The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Its Progeny. Professor Days is an honors graduate from Hamilton College and received his LL.B. degree from Yale.

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