This week, President Joseph R. Biden nominated Elizabeth Prelogar O2C to become the next solicitor general at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Prelogar has been the acting solicitor general at the DOJ since January of this year. From 2014 to 2019, she served as an assistant to the solicitor general.

“With longstanding experience in the U.S. Department of Justice and a deep, working knowledge of the U.S. Supreme Court, Elizabeth Prelogar is exceptionally well prepared to take on her new appointment as U.S. solicitor general,” says Emory President Gregory L. Fenves.

“Through the breadth of her studies and the success of her legal career, she exemplifies the lifelong benefits of a liberal arts education, which began here at Emory. I couldn’t be prouder of Elizabeth’s achievements and seeing her advance the rule of law in service to our nation.” 

As an undergraduate student, Prelogar was a Woodruff Scholar and a staff writer for the Emory Wheel. She graduated summa cum laude with degrees in English and Russian, both of which greatly helped while she served as a special assistant to Robert Mueller during the investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. After graduating from Emory, she earned a master’s degree in creative writing as a Bobby Jones Scholar at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and was a Fulbright scholar in St. Petersburg, Russia. She received her law degree magna cum laude from Harvard University in 2008.

Following her graduation from Harvard Law School, Prelogar clerked for Judge Merrick B. Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She then completed consecutive Supreme Court clerkships for Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.

Prelogar has remained actively involved with the university since graduating. She was named an Emory Alumni Association 40 Under Forty honoree in 2019. She has also mentored students and served as the 2018 speaker for the Emory College Robert W. Woodruff Scholars senior brunch.

As solicitor general, Prelogar would be responsible for representing the United States in the Supreme Court as well as deciding when the federal government will appeal cases and when to file amicus briefs in cases on appeal.

Born and raised in Idaho, Prelogar lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and their two sons. If her nomination is confirmed, she will be only the second woman to serve in the position; Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was the first.