In March 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Robert H. Jackson as Solicitor General of the United States, following the elevation of Stanley Forman Reed to the Supreme Court. As Solicitor General, Jackson became the federal government’s chief advocate before the Supreme Court, responsible for representing the United States in its most consequential legal battles.

During his tenure, Jackson argued 44 cases before the Court, and lost only six, an extraordinary record that cemented his reputation as one of the most effective advocates in U.S. history. His performance earned high praise across the legal world; Justice Louis Brandeis famously remarked that Jackson should be “Solicitor General for life.” Jackson himself considered the role a high point in his career, and a position he truly coveted. 

His work in this role laid the foundation for the legal philosophy he would carry into his later appointments as Attorney General and Associate Justice. To this day, Jackson remains the only person in American history to have held all three of these distinguished positions.