In his interview with Tony Mauro, Eric Holder offers this praise for Solicitor General Donald Verrilli in response to a question about the government’s brief in the same-sex marriage case:

Did you have a significant role writing the government’s brief in that case?

No. I certainly talked to [Solicitor General] Don Verrilli, and we would meet every week and then more frequently when it came to particular positions in cases, and I saw the briefs before they got submitted. Solicitors general are extremely guarded in their independence within the department, but he’s not necessarily that guy. He’s a very collaborative person and he’d say, ‘This is the way I think we want to go with this argument.’ He kind of just bounces things off of people, and he and I have a good relationship. I think he is going to be seen as an extremely consequential SG, I think one of our greatest SGs.

Holder made a similar comment about Verrilli during the ACS Convention in June.