D. John Sauer

D. John Sauer
Official portrait, 2025
49th Solicitor General of the United States
Assumed office
April 4, 2025
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byElizabeth Prelogar
Solicitor General of Missouri
In office
January 9, 2017 – January 3, 2023
GovernorEric Greitens
Mike Parson
Preceded byJames Layton
Succeeded byJosh Divine
Personal details
Born
Dean John Sauer

(1974-11-13) November 13, 1974
Education

Dean John Sauer (born November 13, 1974) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the 49th Solicitor General of the United States since 2025. He was the Solicitor General of Missouri from 2017 to 2023. He also represented former President Donald Trump in his successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. United States.[1]

Early life

Sauer was born on November 13, 1974. He was raised in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Sauer graduated from Duke University in 1997. He then studied at Oriel College at the University of Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship.[2][3] He later went to University of Notre Dame and then Harvard Law School.[4]

Sauer worked as a litigation associate at Cooper & Kirk and then became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.[5]

In 2015, Sauer successfully vindicated a priest who had been falsely accused of sexually abusing children.[6][7]

In January 2017, then-Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley made Sauer Solicitor General of Missouri.[8]

On January 9, 2024, he represented former President Donald Trump in oral arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit about the issue of presidential immunity in the criminal case of United States of America v. Donald J. Trump.[1]

U.S. Solicitor General

On November 14, 2024, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he planned to nominate Sauer to serve as the next Solicitor General of the United States.[9] His nomination was confirmed by the Senate on April 4, 2025, by a vote of 52–45.[10] He took office the same day.[11]

In May, 2025, Sauer asked the Supreme Court of the United States to include DOGE as a "presidential advisory body" within the Executive Office of the President.[12]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 U.S. Court of Appeals. District of Columbia Circuit. (9 January 2024). "District of Columbia Circuit Court Oral Arguments on Former President Trump's Immunity Claims". C-SPAN. Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  2. "Duke University Alumni Magazine". Duke. 1998-08-01. Retrieved 2024-04-28.
  3. "32 American College Students Are Named Rhodes Scholars". The New York Times. December 9, 1996. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  4. Parker, Shannon (January 29, 2009). "LN Ten Most Interesting: John Sauer". Laude News. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  5. "WULS: Faculty Profiles". Washington University School of Law. June 15, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  6. AP (June 17, 2015). "Abuse charges dropped against St. Louis priest". Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  7. "Jiang v. Porter et al". Retrieved November 18, 2024.
  8. Mannies, Jo (February 10, 2017). "Missouri Attorney General Hawley addresses Democrats' residency concerns, rents apartment". KWMU. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
  9. Wegmann, Philip [@PhilipWegmann] (November 14, 2024). "News: Trump announces former Rep. Doug Collins as his nominee to be Veterans Affairs secretary" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. "PN12-39 - Nomination of Dean Sauer for Department of Justice, 119th Congress (2025-2026)". www.congress.gov. April 3, 2025. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  11. "Office of the Solicitor General | Solicitor General D. John Sauer | United States Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. 2025-04-28. Retrieved 2025-05-05.
  12. Sherman, Mark (2025-05-21). "Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block watchdog access to DOGE documents". AP News. Retrieved 2025-05-22.

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