September 3, 2025, 2:07 pm CDT
When Edwin S. Kneedler joined the Workplace of the Solicitor Normal in 1979, Warren E. Burger was the chief justice, and no girls had ever served on the court docket. He says that, at the moment, there was considerably much less public consideration on the justices, the position of the excessive court docket and the attorneys arguing every case.
Now, oral arguments are livestreamed, and the Supreme Courtroom and the problems earlier than the court docket are intently scrutinized, Kneedler says.
Additionally, within the previous days, the justices didn’t soar in with questions throughout oral arguments. Now, he explains, the justices shortly pepper the attorneys with questions, which suggests “you actually need to be ready for give and take.”
Earlier than retiring from authorities service in June, Kneedler, 79, argued 160 instances earlier than the Supreme Courtroom. He joined the solicitor normal’s workplace after 4 years within the Justice Division’s Workplace of Authorized Counsel. He was promoted to deputy solicitor normal in 1993, and in addition briefly served as appearing solicitor normal in 2009.
“You actually need to be ready for give and take,” Kneedler says. (Photograph by Julia Davis)
Regardless of his many years of appellate work and stance within the authorized group, Kneedler says he doesn’t just like the highlight and has historically eschewed interviews. Over two telephone interviews in August, he repeatedly emphasised the significance of collaboration and a teamwork mentality on the solicitor normal’s workplace.
“I really feel privileged to have contributed,” he says, “I’ve all the time believed that the attorneys within the solicitor normal’s workplace are referred to as to be firmly devoted to the mission of zealous advocacy on behalf of the USA.”
Kneedler confused that, when scrutinizing authorities workers, “it’s necessary to keep in mind that this can be a collective effort below the management of the workplace.”
Carter G. Phillips, a former assistant solicitor normal throughout the Reagan administration, says that Kneedler “helped form the legislation in nearly each nook of civil legislation.” Phillips, a associate at Sidley Austin, additionally described Kneedler as “amazingly calm and affable no matter how a lot stress he was below.”
Over the many years, Kneedler labored on scores of high-profile instances, together with the protection of the Inexpensive Care Act. His retirement garnered a standing ovation on the Supreme Courtroom and reward from appellate advocates and former authorities officers from each political events.
“I’ve all the time believed that the attorneys within the solicitor normal’s workplace are referred to as to be firmly devoted to the mission of zealous advocacy on behalf of the USA.”
Paul D. Clement, who served as solicitor normal within the George W. Bush administration, described Kneedler as setting a “benchmark of candor, collegiality and integrity.”
Kneedler was all the time the “consummate public servant,” and his work ethic was “second to none,” says Clement, a associate at Clement & Murphy.
As well as, Clement says, maybe Kneedler’s “biggest ongoing contributions to the authorized group are the generations of attorneys he has mentored over time.”
In retirement, Kneedler and his spouse plan to divide their time between the Washington, D.C. space and Maine.
Rehnquist and the postal system
“Though folks on the put up workplace stated he may need gotten a number of issues improper [about the history of the postal service], we didn’t suppose it was a good suggestion to try to right Justice Rehnquist,” Kneedler says. (Photograph by Julia Davis)
Born in 1946, Kneedler went to Lehigh College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the place he majored in economics. After graduating in 1967, he tried out graduate research for economics, however determined it wasn’t his path. He moved on to the home Peace Corps, which was then often known as Volunteers in Service to America, the place he helped migrants in Oregon.
Kneedler stated that have helped him get an “appreciation for the way numerous this nation is.” After being impressed by volunteer attorneys that efficiently challenged restrictions to visits to migrant camps, he determined to go to legislation faculty. Kneedler graduated from College of Virginia Faculty of Legislation in 1974 after which clerked for James R. Browning, the late chief decide of the U.S. Courtroom of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Appellate work appealed to Kneedler as a result of it usually entailed meticulous analysis, satisfying his inquisitive nature and fascination with U.S. historical past. He dealt with dozens of instances involving American Indian legislation, which stays a subject of curiosity.
Early in his profession on the solicitor normal’s workplace, Kneedler represented the U.S. Postal Service in opposition to a civics affiliation that needed to have the ability to place unstamped notices and pamphlets in residents’ mailboxes.
Kneedler argued {that a} personal mailbox isn’t a public discussion board protected below the First Modification as soon as it has develop into an official a part of the postal system.
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, then an affiliate justice, turned intrigued by Kneedler’s dialogue of the postal service’s background. Rehnquist ended up writing the bulk opinion in United States Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations, agreeing with Kneedler and surveying the historical past of the postal system as a authorities service.
“Though folks on the put up workplace stated he may need gotten a number of issues improper [about the history of the postal service], we didn’t suppose it was a good suggestion to try to right Justice Rehnquist,” says Kneedler.
Introverts and humorous guys
Seth P. Waxman served as solicitor normal below the Clinton administration. Kneedler, he says, excels at offering “a short, clearly responsive reply to the query requested.”
Kneedler’s identify is “synonymous” throughout the appellate bar with “scrupulous integrity, care and perfection within the creation and presentation of authorized positions,” together with “fealty to the correct position of courts,” says Waxman, a associate within the Washington, D.C. workplace of WilmerHale.
For Kneedler, a self-described introvert, heading into oral argument meant “placing on a uniform to arrange for the position of an advocate in court docket.”
To assist floor him throughout oral argument, Kneedler wore his grandfather’s cuff hyperlinks. His grandfather was a highschool civics instructor.
Legal professionals growing their oral advocacy also needs to work on a mode that’s as “true to themselves as doable,” says Kneedler.
“When you aren’t a humorous man, don’t attempt to be,” he says.
