Lawyer Just Earned a Rare Standing Ovation From SCOTUS

If you've never heard of Edwin S. Kneedler, that's probably because you don't hang out around the Supreme Court chambers. The seasoned attorney presented his 160th case on Wednesday in front of the high court, set to be the 79-year-old's last argument—an accomplishment recognized by an unusual standing ovation in the courtroom that the Supreme Court justices joined in on. "It was a rare moment of unanimity and spontaneous joy from all nine justices on the bench," Harvard law professor Richard Lazarus tells the New York Times. "They were all beaming." Longtime SCOTUS attorney Kannon Shanmugam adds that the incident was "one of the most electric moments I've ever seen in the courtroom."

Before the room broke out in applause, Chief Justice John Roberts had called Kneedler back to the lectern after his final argument, praising him for his "extraordinary care and professionalism" and calling the attorney's achievement "a record for modern times." Roberts even noted the two cases that he and Kneedler had argued on the same side. "We lost both of those cases. I'm sure it was my fault," noted the chief justice. Per Bloomberg Law, Kneedler has argued more cases before the Supreme Court than any other practicing lawyer, with decades served in the Office of the Solicitor General.

"Ed is such a stalwart ... that it is hard to imagine the office without him," says Michael Dreeben, who worked side by side with Kneedler for years at the OSG. "A word that recurred in Ed's oral arguments was 'helpful,'" writes prominent SCOTUS expert William Jay in a post on LinkedIn on Kneedler's presentation style. "In the difficult cases he was given to argue, covering subjects from Indian law to government speech to immigration, Ed sought to advance the interests of the United States, his sole client—but he also sought to help the Court, as it reasoned its way to a decision."

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One Supreme Court justice even went on the record to sing Kneedler's praises. "In all the time I've spent in government, I've never known a finer public servant," Justice Elena Kagan says in a statement to the Times. "There's pretty much no legal question he can't answer." Kneedler rejected an interview, noting earlier this month upon receiving an award from his alma mater, the University of Virginia, that he was "a career civil servant" and "not in the press if I can avoid it." (More Supreme Court stories.)