Solicitor General: Noel Francisco

Noel John Francisco was sworn in as the 47th Solicitor General of the United States on September 19, 2017.

Prior to joining the Justice Department, he was a partner in the Washington, DC office of Jones Day, where he was the chair of the Firm’s Government Regulation Practice.  While at Jones Day, he appeared several times before the Supreme Court, including in McDonnell v. United States, which involved the meaning of “official act” under federal bribery statutes; Zubik v. Burwell, which involved the application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to regulations related to insurance coverage for contraception; and NLRB v. Noel Canning, which involved the Constitution’s recess appointment power.  He has also argued numerous cases in the lower federal and state courts on a wide range of constitutional, civil, and criminal matters.

From 2001 to 2003, Mr. Francisco served in the Office of Counsel to the President as Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush, and from 2003 to 2005 he served as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel.

Mr. Francisco was raised in Oswego, NY.  He received his B.A. with honors in 1991 from the University of Chicago, and a J.D. with high honors in 1996 from the University of Chicago Law School. After law school, Mr. Francisco served as a law clerk to Judge J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit before clerking for Associate Justice Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court.