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How did the two legal teams port that came out last March. But
divvy up the briefing? given where the brief ultimately
It was very much a collab- landed, I wouldn’t say we were
orative, almost unified briefing stunned when it came out, given
process. The four of us at Hogan the questions that we had been
Lovells worked with Ria, David, asked.
Galen Sherwin and Louise Mel- Why did you take some com-
ling. We divided the responsibility fort in the statement with the
for drafting the brief from the very petition denial written by Justice
beginning, contributing parts to it Sotomayor and joined by Jus-
and each editing the other’s writ- tices Breyer and Kavanaugh, that
ing to make sure that once it came highlighted changes in the roles
together, it came together in a full, of women in the military?
consistent voice. We did that both I found the statement respect-
with the petition and the reply. ing the denial fascinating because
Cate Stetson of Hogan Lovells.
The acting solicitor general op- Credit: Diego M. Radzinschi / ALM of who joined it and because it’s a
posed review. Did you meet with signal that I think was intended
her office before she filed the government’s brief? to be sent. We knew that one of the government’s
We had a conversation, as you often do in arguments would be, “Let this percolate more with
these cases, with the Solicitor General’s Office. I Congress.” Our position, as you can tell from our re-
reached out to [acting Solicitor General] Eliza- ply brief, is Congress has had many at-bats and it’s
beth Prelogar, who’s actually a former colleague of struck out every time.
mine; she was an associate with us. And she and So having a statement respecting a cert denial
[assistant to the solicitor general] Morgan Ratner, puts the legislature on notice that the court is watch-
who’s also another former Hogan Lovells associ- ing. And the fact that you had justices coming from
ate, got on the phone with the Hogan Lovells team very different outlooks and different presidential ap-
and the ACLU team. Ria took the lead for us in pointments joining it, I think, is a signal that if the
the discussion. As you’ve probably heard before, next case comes up and Congress continues to sit
that to me is almost like some of the most difficult and do nothing, there may well be support across a
oral arguments that you’ve ever had. It was like broad swath of those justices for granting cert and
four dimensional chess. You’ve got the Selective for reversal.
Service folks who were in the room asking ques- Are Hogan lawyers back in their offices and are
tions from their perspective. You have Morgan you fully vaccinated?
and Elizabeth who are two of the brightest intel- Hogan at large is not back in its offices. I think that
lects in the entire world asking questions, and Ria, will happen over the next few weeks and certainly
who did an astonishing, beautiful job talking with by Labor Day is our goal. I am fully vaccinated and
all of that. back in the office most days just because I find it a
Could you tell from that meeting what position calmer and more centering place to work than what
the government would take? I get out of my laundry room. I had a really sweet
The government never, never, never shows its standing desk set up on top of my washing machine
cards before it files. So it’s a sort of one-way con- for multitasking. It’s so much better than a closet. I
versation. They can ask you lots of questions but we had some nice windows and a view. ■
don’t get to ask the questions. We had hoped that
they might be supportive given the really seismic Marcia Coyle, based in Washington, covers the U.S.
changes that have occurred in the military, in the Supreme Court. Contact her at [email protected].
DOD, the support in the national commission re- On Twitter: @MarciaCoyle
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