Is michael dreeben gay
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Over his 31-year tenure, he presented 105 oral arguments, a figure that placed him among the most prolific advocates in the Court's history. Trump's campaign and allies contended that recruiting a veteran appellate advocate like Dreeben represented an escalation in "lawfare" tactics aimed at disqualifying the former president from the 2024 election, rather than impartial justice.[29] This perspective aligned with broader conservative narratives of a "deep state" within federal law enforcement selectively enforcing norms against Republican figures.[46]In the April 25, 2024, Supreme Court oral arguments for Trump v.
And he had the rare skill to push back against hostile questioning with calm and well-considered responses that signaled a ready willingness to acknowledge and engage with the justices on the most difficult aspects of his case.
But what is less obvious to the casual observer is that most of the work of the deputy solicitor general is not the glamorous part — writing briefs and making arguments before the Supreme Court — but the challenging task of coordinating the legal positions taken by federal prosecutors in cases throughout the country.
Michael Dreeben
from Duke University School of Law (1981) and has taught appellate advocacy at institutions including Harvard Law School and Duke.[4][5] Dreeben's career is marked by bipartisan acclaim for his principled advocacy and mastery of Supreme Court practice, including recent arguments as counsel to a special counsel in cases like Trump v.
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United States (2017), securing a 6-2 affirmance on the scope of Brady disclosure obligations in a capital murder prosecution involving withheld witness agreements.United States, a case concerning the forfeiture of untainted assets to secure criminal restitution; Chief Justice John Roberts acknowledged the milestone during proceedings, noting Dreeben as only the second advocate to achieve it. 31, 2019, 12:00 AM), https://www.scotusblog.com/2019/07/tribute-to-michael-dreeben-a-gifted-advocate-and-a-principled-man/
Michael Dreeben, a veteran U.S.
Supreme Court advocate with 105 oral arguments under his belt, will join O’Melveny & Myers in January as a partner in its appellate and white-collar practices, the firm announced Tuesday.
The longtime deputy U.S. solicitor general, widely viewed as an unrivaled expert on criminal law, retired in July after a two-year detour assisting special counsel Robert Mueller in the investigation into Russia’s election interference.
For non-exclusive official acts, he maintained that criminal liability applies if they violate the law, such as through bribery or corruption, while conceding presumptive immunity for core Article II functions like issuing pardons, vetoing legislation, or exercising removal power, provided they are not tainted by private gain.[33] He differentiated this from civil immunity under precedents like Nixon v.
After noting that the prosecutor “has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America,” and urging a “rededication to the spirit of fair play and decency that should animate the federal prosecutor,” Jackson concluded his address by saying, “A sensitiveness to fair play and sportsmanship is perhaps the best protection against the abuse of power, and the citizen’s safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.” Jackson would have been proud of Michael Dreeben, who embodied those ideals as well as anyone I have ever worked with.
Recommended Citation: William Bryson, Tribute to Michael Dreeben: A gifted advocate and a principled man, SCOTUSblog (Jul.
United States, conservative justices including Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas interrogated Dreeben's defense of limited or no presidential immunity for "official acts," highlighting risks of endless retaliatory litigation that could paralyze executive decision-making. Michael Dreeben is one of those few.
As the deputy solicitor general for criminal cases for the past quarter century, Michael has played a critical role in formulating legal policy for the criminal side of the department and in leading the department’s presentation of its criminal cases both in the Supreme Court and in the lower federal courts.
He has credited his father with shaping his approach to legal advocacy by serving as a practice audience for arguments, insisting on explanations comprehensible to non-lawyers, which honed his clarity and precision in communication.[8] This familial emphasis on rigorous, accessible reasoning appears to have influenced his early intellectual development amid a household informed by scientific inquiry.
Academic and Legal Training
Dreeben earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[1] He subsequently obtained a Master of Arts in history from the University of Chicago.[4]Dreeben received his Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law in 1981.[5]Following law school, Dreeben clerked for Judge Jerre S.Williams on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, gaining foundational experience in federal appellate practice.[1] This clerkship provided early exposure to complex legal argumentation and judicial decision-making in areas such as constitutional and criminal law.
Department of Justice Career
Initial Roles and Entry into Appellate Practice
Dreeben commenced his career at the United States Department of Justice in 1988, joining the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) as an Assistant to the Solicitor General.[2] The OSG serves as the federal government's principal advocate before the Supreme Court, handling the selection, briefing, and oral argument of cases on behalf of the United States across civil, criminal, and constitutional matters.Many of them have been quite capable and have made significant contributions. To do that task effectively requires a willingness to say “no” to prosecutors, often in the face of strongly held contrary views. His advocacy emphasized criminal law and procedure, including issues of constitutional rights, evidentiary standards, and federal prosecutorial authority, though he also handled matters in other domains such as administrative law.Dreeben's debut Supreme Court argument came in 1989, amid the George H.
W. Bush administration. United States, the case examining the scope of presidential immunity from criminal liability for official acts.[32][33] He argued that the Constitution provides no blanket immunity for former presidents, asserting that any such protection would need to be explicitly created by the Court rather than inferred from separation of powers principles, and emphasized that the indictment focused on unofficial or private conduct, such as pressuring state officials and organizing alternate electors.[33][34] During the hearing, Dreeben distinguished permissible official actions—like Cabinet appointments—from the charged conduct involving interference with electioncertification, clarifying that the prosecution did not seek to criminalize core executive functions.[35]Dreeben's role leveraged his prior record of over 100 Supreme Court arguments, including during his tenure as deputy solicitor general, to counter Trump's broad immunity assertions that, if accepted, could shield a range of alleged election-related actions from judicial scrutiny.[29][32] Following the Supreme Court's July 1, 2024, ruling granting absolute immunity for core constitutional powers and presumptive immunity for other official acts—while remanding for further proceedings—Dreeben continued advising on the case's application to the indictment, though the charges were ultimately dismissed without prejudice on November 25, 2024, after Trump's reelection, citing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.[36]
Post-Government Professional Activities
Transition to Private Practice
After concluding his 31-year tenure at the U.S.Department of Justice in June 2019, Michael Dreeben transitioned to private practice by joining O'Melveny & Myers LLP as a partner in December 2019.[2][37] This marked his first firm position following three decades primarily in government appellate roles, where he had argued over 100 cases before the Supreme Court.[2][38]At O'Melveny, Dreeben contributed to the firm's appellate and Supreme Court practice, white collar defense, corporate investigations, and emerging areas such as cybersecurity and data privacy, leveraging his extensive experience in high-stakes litigation.[2] He continued advocating before the Supreme Court on behalf of private clients, delivering his 106th argument in November 2021 in a case involving federal sentencing guidelines.[39] This shift allowed Dreeben to apply his government-honed expertise in a for-profit environment, though he maintained selective public sector engagements, including academic roles.[40]
Academic Teaching and Scholarship
Following his retirement from the Department of Justice in June 2019, Dreeben joined Georgetown University Law Center as a Distinguished Lecturer in Government for the 2019-2020 academic year, a role he retained alongside his subsequent private practice commitments.[16][2] Prior to this, he had served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law, teaching advanced legal courses informed by his appellate experience.[1] He also held a visiting professorship at Duke University School of Law, where he instructed students in appellate advocacy and conducted seminars on Supreme Court litigation strategy.[41] These teaching roles emphasized practical skills in high-stakes federal appeals, drawing directly from his record of over 100 oral arguments before the U.S.Supreme Court on behalf of the government.[1]Dreeben's scholarly output, while not voluminous given his primary focus on government service and advocacy, includes early academic work on labor law. Fitzgerald (1982), noting that criminal stakes demand narrower protections, with safeguards including evidentiary rules limiting the use of official-act evidence to prove intent or knowledge (not culpability), jury instructions, statutory construction presumptions, and reliance on legal advice to avoid chilling executive functions.[33]Throughout his career in the Office of the Solicitor General (1988–2019), Dreeben defended robust executive authority in over 100 Supreme Court arguments, including assertions of prosecutorial discretion and national security powers, but consistently prioritized accountability mechanisms over absolute shields from criminal law.
United States (2017), where he represented the government on evidentiary standards in multi-defendant trials.[12] His work emphasized rigorous preparation and strategic policy formulation for the government's appellate positions across diverse criminal law domains.[15]
Record of Supreme Court Advocacy
Michael Dreeben joined the Office of the Solicitor General in 1988 and advanced to Deputy Solicitor General in 1994, where he supervised the criminal docket and argued cases on behalf of the United States before the Supreme Court.His arguments before the Supreme Court — well over 100 of them — would be models for others to emulate, except that they were the products of skills that few others have and a level of preparation that even fewer are willing to match. That challenging task could not have been in better hands.
Michael’s skill as an advocate has been widely recognized and reported on.
Halper, a Medicare fraud case.[14] On April 27, 2016, Dreeben delivered his 100th oral argument, becoming the first attorney to reach that milestone in Supreme Court history.[12]Dreeben's advocacy contributed to significant outcomes in high-stakes criminal matters, including a 6-2 affirmance in Turner v.
Outcomes varied, with successes in affirming prosecutorial practices but losses in privacy and due process expansions, underscoring the Court's evolving jurisprudence during his service.