Obama Nominates RIAA Lawyer For Solicitor General

Xiph1980 writes "President Barack Obama on Monday nominated former Recording Industry Association of America lawyer Donald Verrilli Jr. to serve as the nation's solicitor general. The solicitor general is charged with defending the government before the Supreme Court, and files friend-of-the court briefs in cases in which the government believes there is a significant legal issue. The office also determines which cases it would bring to the Supreme Court for review. Verrilli is best known for leading the recording industry's legal charge against music- and movie-sharing site Grokster. That 2003 case ultimately led to Grokster's demise when the US Supreme Court sided with the RIAA's verdict."

Re:Don't worry big media, the fix is in

[Aryden]

"Amicus Curiae: Literally, friend of the court. A person with strong interest in or views on the subject matter of an action, but not a party to the action, may petition the court for permission to file a brief, ostensibly on behalf of a party but actually to suggest a rationale consistent with its own views. Such amicus curiae briefs are commonly filed in appeals concerning matters of a broad public interest; e.g., civil rights cases. They may be filed by private persons or the government. In appeals to the U.S. courts of appeals, an amicus brief may be filed only if accompanied by written consent of all parties, or by leave of court granted on motion or at the request of the court, except that consent or leave shall not be required when the brief is presented by the United States or an officer or agency thereof." -- legal-dictionary.freedictionary.com This means that in cases such as the legality of the suits filed by the *IAA's, he will have the ability to file amicus curiae briefs on behalf of the administration and/or the *IAA's. It doesn't have to mean that the government was directly implicated in anything, but it is a preparatory action for the future class action suits that will be filed against them.

yes it does

[unity100]

just like how other appointments in his administration turned out to be.

Inaccurate Summary

[Grond]

Verrilli was not, as the summary implies, a lawyer who worked exclusively for the RIAA. Verrilli worked for Jenner & Block [jenner.com], one of the larger law firms in the US. The recording studios were one client of many, and it does not appear that he had a habit of representing studios. Judging by his significant Supreme Court experience [google.com], Verrilli represented a wide variety of clients, including indigent criminal defendants, a federal employee who alleged he was discriminated against because of his age, insurance agent trade groups, wireless telecommunications companies (against the FCC), Coors Brewing Company (arguing against a state law forbidding the display of alcohol content on beer), citizens alleging violations of their voting rights, and the American Libraries Association (arguing against the Communications Decency Act of 1996) .

That's a broad set of clients, including a lot of litigation against the government, which is what the Solicitor General handles. It is absurd to impute an agenda to an attorney based on one case, and Verrilli seems qualified for the job of Solicitor General.

Re:Don't worry big media, the fix is in

[elrous0]

The Solicitor General does way more than that. As another post in the thread pointed out, a big part of the job is filing Amicus Curiae briefs with the Supreme Court. that means when the RIAA/MPAA or big media goes before the Supreme Court, guess who will be asked to file a friend of the Court brief saying "We support these guys"?

Re:Don't worry big media, the fix is in

[jfalcon]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10024163-38.html [cnet.com] [cnet.com]

"By choosing Joe Biden as their vice presidential candidate, the Democrats have selected a politician with a mixed record on technology who has spent most of his Senate career allied with the FBI and copyright holders, who ranks toward the bottom of CNET's Technology Voters' Guide, and whose anti-privacy legislation was actually responsible for the creation of PGP."

Re:What does this mean?

[Grond]

His specialty is copyright law.

Not particularly. As you can see from the Wayback Machine copy of his Jenner & Block profile [archive.org], "Mr. Verrilli concentrates his practice on Supreme Court and appellate litigation, telecommunications, and First Amendment and media litigation....Mr. Verrilli has argued many cases in the federal courts of appeals and in state supreme courts on a range of issues, including cases involving copyright, constitutional law (involving the First Amendment, the Takings Clause and the Bill of Attainder Clause), statutory construction, administrative law and criminal law....He is an adjunct professor of constitutional law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught First Amendment law for the past 14 years."

Copyright and media litigation were only a small part of a wide-ranging practice.

Re:Don't worry big media, the fix is in

[wurble]

I would agree with you if we didn't have a first past post system. If we had instant runoff or some other similar multi-vote system, then your theory could work. However in first past post, any third party serves only to act as a spoiler for the party closest to them. As such, libertarians tend to act as spoilers for the Republicans and Green tends to act as spoilers for the Democrats.

Re:yes it does

[Opportunist]

The Chicago Mafia's power to extort was limited to Chicago.