Recent oral arguments in which Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. challenged certain practices by the Office of the Solicitor General have left some court watchers scratching their heads and wondering whether they are isolated incidents or symptoms of a growing problem.
A number of veterans of the office lean more toward the former explanation than to the latter, and they note that Roberts may be particularly sensitive to the office’s operation because of his own experiences as principal deputy solicitor general during the George H.W. Bush administration.
