Policy Congruence Between the President and the Solicitor General

Abstract

This article examines the policy attention and ideological congruence between solicitors general and their appointing presidents. It builds on previous research by presenting an alternative way of measuring presi dential policy preferences that varies within administrations and offers an empirical test of the congruence between presidents and their appoin tees. Presidential attention to four policy areas and the ideological direc tion of that attention through their public statements is examined to see whether chief executives' rhetoric corresponds to the filing of discretion ary amicus curiae briefs by solicitors general. We find that presidential statements are an important predictor of discretionary solicitor general behavior. Thus, solicitors general are responsive to the policy attentive ness and the ideological preferences of the chief executives who appoint them.