Elizabeth Prelogar

Elizabeth Barchas Prelogar (born 1980)^[2] is an American attorney serving as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General of the United States, who is the nominee for Solicitor General of the United States. She served as Acting Solicitor General from January 20, at the start of the Biden Administration, until her nomination obliged her to step down under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.^[3][4]

Early life and education[]

Prelogar was born and raised in Boise, Idaho.^[5] She graduated from Boise High School in 1998.^[6] After first taking college courses at Boise State University at the age of 12^[7], she attended Emory University, where she majored in English and Russian and was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. She graduated summa cum laude in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts. She then earned a Master of Letters in creative writing from the University of St Andrews in 2003 and a Juris Doctor, magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2005. She is fluent in Russian. While at Harvard, she won an Overseas Press Club scholarship to study Russian media and censorship.^[8]

Career[]

Prelogar began her career as a law clerk for Judge Merrick Garland of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and later to Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was then an associate at Hogan Lovells. She taught a course at Harvard Law School on Supreme Court and appellate advocacy. ^[9]

From 2014 to 2019, Prelogar was an assistant to the solicitor general. She was briefly detailed to the Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election. In 2020, she joined Cooley LLP as a partner.^[10] She was named principal deputy solicitor general by President Joe Biden in January 2021 and served as Acting Solicitor General.^[11] On August 10, 2021, President Biden nominated Prelogar to the office of Solicitor General.^[9][12] Her nomination was sent to the Senate that same day.^[13] Her nomination is pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Personal life[]

Prelogar was Miss Idaho in 2004.^[14] Prelogar donated to the Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign and Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign. She also performed in a mock trial with Brett Kavanaugh in 2016 prior to his nomination to the Supreme Court.^[1]

On May 31, 2008 she married Brandon Prelogar in Guatemala.^[15] They have two sons.^[16]

References[]

External links[]

• Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court from the Oyez Project
• Appearances on C-SPAN