Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. scolded a Justice Department lawyer in open court Tuesday, accusing the solicitor general’s office of being less than candid in a brief describing the government’s change in position on an issue before the court.
The rare episode seemed to be a deliberate effort by Roberts to send a message to the solicitor general’s office that it may be giving too-short shrift to the tradition of continuity between administrations that the court is accustomed to seeing. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. was in the courtroom and saw the unusual exchange.
