Nate Raymond

(Reuters) – The U.S. Senate confirmed Elizabeth Prelogar’s appointment as U.S. Solicitor General. President Joe Biden selected Prelogar to represent him before the U.S. Supreme Court, just days before hearing two key abortion and gun-rights cases.

Prelogar is a former member from special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation group. Prelogar then served in the capacity of acting solicitor general, beginning at Biden’s January inauguration and ending with her August nomination.

Prelogar, due to legal complexities, was forced to quit her position as acting president while her nomination was pending. Since then she has worked in the U.S. Justice Department’s legal counsel office.

Her confirmation comes ahead of the conservative-dominated Supreme Court on Monday hearing a challenge to a Texas law that imposes a near-total ban on abortions and a closely-watched gun rights case on Wednesday.

Prelogar was asked by Republicans to explain how Biden’s solicitor general reversed government positions in various cases relating to former President Donald Trump.

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Harvard Law School Graduate Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a clerk for the liberal Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, who both died in 2020. Later, she served as an assistant to solicitor general, from 2014 to 2019.

Prelogar was a former Russian student who received a Fulbright Fellowship in St. Petersburg. While at the Justice Department, Prelogar also served as the assistant special counsel for Mueller. He led the investigation into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.

After briefly returning to private practice, she joined Cooley Law in January 2020. She then returned to the Justice Department after Biden’s victory.