"I have asked them to discontinue any further consideration of me for that critically important position,” Chuck Cooper said. | AP Photo Cooper withdraws from solicitor general consideration

Chuck Cooper, the conservative Supreme Court litigator, is withdrawing his name from consideration to be the next solicitor general, opening the door for the husband of Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to be appointed to the role.

“I am deeply honored by any consideration that I may have received by Attorney General Sessions and President Trump for appointment as the Solicitor General, but I have asked them to discontinue any further consideration of me for that critically important position,” Cooper said in a statement Thursday.


Cooper, a onetime clerk for the late Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, is a confidant of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and helped prepare him for his confirmation hearings. He was one of two finalists for the position.

In an interview on Thursday afternoon, Cooper told POLITICO that he wasn’t prepared to undergo the grueling confirmation process. “Life is too good and too short,” he said.

In his formal statement on the decision to withdraw, Cooper added: “After witnessing the treatment that my friend Jeff Sessions, a decent and honorable man who bears only good will and good cheer to everyone he meets, had to endure at the hands of a partisan opposition that will say anything and do anything to advance their political interests, I am unwilling to subject myself, my family, and my friends to such a process.”

Kellyanne Conway’s husband, George T. Conway, has been reported as the other finalist being considered for the role. The White House has yet to announce a nominee and a spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Conway, a partner at the New York City law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, is perhaps best known for the behind-the-scenes role he played in the Paula Jones saga during Bill Clinton’s presidency – it was Conway who, along with a small cadre of elite lawyers, wrote Jones’ successful appeal to the Supreme Court, which set the legal precedent allowing a sitting president to be sued in civil court.

The White House was divided between the two candidates, with Kellyanne Conway and others advocating for her husband and another camp, led by Sessions, making the case for Cooper.

“George is a brilliant and accomplished lawyer who is willing to serve this president. At the same time, I've been quiet about the specific roles for him partly because of my role here and because the attorney general has not been confirmed,” Conway told POLITICO earlier this week. “He's willing to serve and I know that's a decision he's made. He would be the first Asian solicitor general, but he could also be a judge.”

The solicitor general is responsible for representing the federal government before the Supreme Court, arguing on its behalf in cases in which the government is a party.

