The lure of legacy often motivates outgoing administrations to tattoo the legal landscape with their brand in as many ways as are available in their final hours. These are often called midnight regulations, midnight monument designations, midnight pardons, and the like.

While the ink is spilled on each of these categories during every presidential transition, one category is seldom discussed. We must beware of the midnight solicitor’s general opinions.

The president appoints the solicitor general with the advice and consent of the Senate and presents the official legal position of the United States government in cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. The solicitor general regularly files briefs unsolicited, standing beside other government agencies in their litigation.

In cases under review this term, the solicitor general has filed 22 briefs of this type, with more expected in pending cases.

There has also been a longstanding practice at the U.S. Supreme Court where the Supreme Court sometimes “invites” extraneous legal advice by asking the solicitor general for the administration's legal position in cases where the U.S. is not yet even involved. Indeed, the solicitor general has been nicknamed the 10th justice, reflecting just how influential he or she can be.

These solicitor general briefs are particularly suspect vehicles for last-minute influence on the long-term progress of the law. Right now, there are at least seven cases where the Supreme Court is waiting to receive briefs it invited the solicitor general to file. And these cases involve some pretty big issues.

For example, the Supreme Court requested the solicitor general’s views in two........

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