A Harvard Law graduate, Prelogar clerked for Attorney General Merrick Garland when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and later for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.

The administration reportedly was seeking a woman for the position. Gender diversity in the solicitor general’s office had come into sharp focus during the Trump administration. When Prelogar left the office in 2019 to join Cooley, only four out of 16 assistants were women.