[JURIST] The US Senate [official website] Tuesday approved Donald Verrilli, Jr [Oyez profile], as the next Solicitor General [official website] by a vote of 72-16 [roll call vote], taking the position left open since Elena Kagan was sworn in [JURIST report] to the Supreme Court [official website] last August. Verrilli is a veteran Supreme Court lawyer and former clerk for Supreme Court Justice William Brennan and for Judge J Skelly Wright of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Verrelli was serving in the White House Legal Counsel’s office as a deputy counsel to the president and was previously an Associate Deputy Attorney General in the Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website]. US Attorney General Eric Holder [official website] issued a statement [text, DOC] welcoming Verrilli back to the DOJ and thanking Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal [official profile] for his service as acting Solicitor General since Kagan’s departure.

As solicitor general, Verrilli will be formally responsible for conducting all litigation on behalf of the US in the US Supreme Court and supervising the handling of US litigation in federal appellate courts. President Barack Obama nominated [JURIST report] Verrilli for the position last January. He has argued a dozen cases [WSJ report] before the Supreme Court, including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. [opinion]. In that case, the court found for Verilli’s clients, MGM, that companies can be held liable if their software is used to illegally distribute copyrighted material. He will replace Kagan who was the first woman [JURIST report] to serve as Solicitor General before moving on to the Supreme Court. The Senate confirmed Kagan as solicitor general in March 2009, two months after Obama nominated her [JURIST reports].