Prelogar's Supreme Court opening statement inBiden v. Texas Recorded April 26, 2022.[2]
Elizabeth Barchas Prelogar (born March 7, 1980;néeElizabeth Margaret Barchas)[3] is an American lawyer who served assolicitor general of the United States from 2021 to 2025. Before that, she served as acting solicitor general from January 20, 2021,[4] at the start of theBiden administration, until PresidentJoe Biden sent her nomination to theU.S. Senate on August 11, 2021.[5]
Prelogar was born on March 7, 1980, as the youngest of four children to Jeanne Barchas (née Bullock)[6] and Rudolf Barchas[3][7] and was raised inBoise, Idaho.[8] She has two older brothers and one older sister. Her father was a lawyer and her mother was aspecial education teacher.[9][10]
On August 10, 2021, President Biden nominated Prelogar to the office of solicitor general.[26][29] Her nomination was sent to the Senate that same day.[30] Her nomination was referred to theSenate Judiciary Committee,[31] which approved it by a vote of 13–9.[32] She was prevented from serving while the nomination was before the Senate as a result of the terms of theFederal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998.[33]
On October 28, 2021, the Senate confirmed Prelogar as solicitor general by a vote of 53–36,[34] making her the second woman to hold the position afterElena Kagan, who later became a Supreme Court Justice.[35][36] She was sworn into office later on that day.[37]
On January 20, 2025, her term ended with the re-election of President Trump. Prelogar then taught a course on "changing paradigms in the Supreme Court" at Harvard Law School in the spring semester.[38]
In the summer of 2025, she left Harvard and returned to Cooley LLP to lead their Supreme Court and appellate practice group.[39]
^abPrelogar, Elizabeth Barchas (2021)."Questionnaire for Non-Judicial Nominees"(primary source (PDF)).Judiciary.Senate.gov. Washington, DC: United States Senate, Committee on the Juciciary.Archived(PDF) from the original on April 1, 2022. RetrievedFebruary 28, 2023.
^Perkins, Christine (February 19, 2021)."More Harvard Law Faculty and Alumni Tapped to Serve in the Biden Administration".Harvard Law Today.Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. RetrievedOctober 28, 2021.[complete text appearing] Elizabeth Prelogar '08 was named principal deputy solicitor general of the U.S.. Department of Justice. She was previously a partner at Cooley in Washington, D.C., where she focused on Supreme Court and appellate litigation, and she was a former assistant to the U.S. solicitor general. Prelogar was also a legal adviser in the special counsel probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Last fall, she taught the Supreme Court and Appellate Advocacy Workshop at HLS.
^Siskind, Amy (March 27, 2018).The List: A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump's First Year (1st American ed.). New York, NY: Bloomsbury. p. 172.ISBN9781635572711.
^"Nominations Sent to the Senate" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: The White House. August 11, 2021.Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. RetrievedAugust 11, 2021. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
^108 Cong. Rec. E1636 (daily ed. Sept. 15, 2004) (statement of C.L. "Butch" Otter). Title of statement is"In Honor of Miss Idaho 2004"Archived February 28, 2023, at theWayback Machine. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.