that's with rex lee got the job.then the reagan administration offered him, just a scully, a job on the seventh circuit which was based in chicago. he's living in chicago at the time but he doesn't like chicago, which happens to be my hometown. but he and his wife maureen weber east coast folks and they did not enjoy their time in chicago that much. they were eager to get back to the east coast, especially washington. so here he is, having just lost a chance to be solicitor general, being offered a lifetime appointment to a prestigious court of appeals based in chicago and he decides he's going to wait. he's going to hold out in hopes that he's going to get a job on the federal courts based in washington, d.c.. because he knew, his forte was administrative law. he's taking a chance. here he has an oscar in hand errs is one that might not come. and just a few months later, in 1982, he was officially appointed by ronald reagan to the u.s. court of appeals for the d.c. circuit claymont so he didn't get to be solicitor g

that came in the spring of 1981, that is when rex lee got the job. and then the reagan administration offers him, justice scalia, a job on the second circuit based in chicago. now he's living in chicago that the time that he doesn't like chicago, which opens to be a home town and i know you spent plenty of time in the upper midwest. but he and his wife, maureen, were plaine east coast folks and did not enjoy their time in chicago that much and were eager to get back to the east coast especially washington. so here he is, having just lost the chance of being solicitor general, being offered a lifetime appointment to a prestigious court of appeals, the seventh circuit based in chicago, and he decides he's going to wait. he's quick to hold out in hopes that he's going to get a job on the federal appeals court based in washington, d.c.. >> host: he really wanted -- >> guest: he knew because his forte was administrated wall and that is what the court in d.c. handles most of the issue is taking a chance. he had an offer in hand versus one that might not co

>> i was down the hall from a very great solicitor general, rex lee, and i know some of the great onesn this room had the privilege of serving him. the conflict resolution, i knew that it was there, but the role of taking various positions and coming to closureñr, and the conflict resolution, it sounds very much like a judicial role. ÑiñrÑiçói knew itçóñr existed bt underestimated how much, at least some of my time and energy was dedicated to ironing out a, not in some arbitrary compromise sense, but coming to the view that this in fact should be the position of the united states. >> you have had a lot of exposure. what surprised you? >> i was arguing forÑi my positn against the criminal division or some part of the government. butÑi what surprised me was the enormous amount of work goingÑio carry out responsibilities. there is the tip of the iceberg, the supreme court. but whenÑi i looked at my desk r the first day of real work and salt pile about that high, i said those cannot all be supreme xdÑicourt matters. they were recommendations. ç

and as rex lee said, and this has to do with changing positions also, that he wanted to be known when he stood before the court as the solicitor general of the united states, not the pamphleteer solicitor general. >> and i may have a slightly different view. i don't think it's radically different but i always think when the united states files an amicus brief in the supreme court, in some respects the most important section of that brief is maybe the one that's read most rapidly but that is the interests of the united states. the supreme court's rules require that to be in the brief and require an articulation why the united states is interested in a particular case. and i think if there is a case that is interesting but really doesn't directly implicate the interests of the united states, that the burden for getting involved in that case, the justification for getting involved in that case ought to be a very high one. i don't think just because a case is controversial or important, that the united states should necessarily file an amicus brief. and there were certainly very important

>> i was down the hall from a very great solicitor general, rex lee, and i know some of the great onesnflict resolution, i knew that it was there, but the role of taking various positions and coming to closureñr, and the conflict resolution, it sounds very much like a judicial role. ÑiñrÑiçói knew itçóñr existed bt underestimated how much, at least some of my time and energy was dedicated to ironing out a, not in some arbitrary compromise sense, but coming to the view that this in fact should be the position of the united states. >> you have had a lot of exposure. what surprised you? >> i was arguing forÑi my positn against the criminal division or some part of the government. butÑi what surprised me was the enormous amount of work goingÑio carry out responsibilities. there is the tip of the iceberg, the supreme court. but whenÑi i looked at my desk r the first day of real work and salt pile about that high, i said those cannot all be supreme xdÑicourt matters. they were recommendations. ç