‘Tenth Justice’ Argued an Unexpected Case—That’s His Prerogative

U.S. Solicitor General Noel Francisco chose an obscure and technical issue to argue in front of the justices this sitting, but court watchers tell Bloomberg Law there was likely a good reason for that.

Francisco is the Trump administration’s top lawyer at the Supreme Court. The solicitor general has considerable influence with the justices, and has frequently been referred to as the “tenth justice.”

Attorneys from Francisco’s office argued in seven of the 10 cases in the U.S. Supreme Court’s just-finished October sitting.

The high proportion isn’t unusual because the federal government is by far the most frequent litigant in ...