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Noel John Francisco (born August 21, 1969) is an American lawyer who served as Solicitor General of the United States from 2017 to 2020. He was the first Asian Americans confirmed by the United States Senate to hold the position. Francisco is now a partner at the law firm Jones Day.
As Solicitor General, Francisco was characterized as a staunch defender of President Donald Trump. In his position, Francisco sought to have the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) struck down by the courts, neither of which occurred during his tenure. He also defended Executive Order 13769, which was a ban on travelers from predominantly Muslim countries deemed to present security risks; this was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii.
Francisco attended Brandeis University for one year before transferring to the University of Chicago, graduating in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with honors. From 1991 to 1993, Francisco was a financial analyst for Morgan Stanley and Eric Gleacher. He then attended the University of Chicago Law School, graduating in 1996 with a Juris Doctor degree with high honors.
In 2005, Francisco moved back to the private sector, joining the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Jones Day, eventually becoming the chair of the firm's government regulation practice. While at Jones Day, he appeared several times before the Supreme Court, including in McDonnell v. United States, which involved the meaning of "official act" under federal bribery statutes; Zubik v. Burwell, which involved the application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to regulations related to insurance coverage for contraception; and NLRB v. Noel Canning, which involved the Constitution’s recess appointment power. He also argued numerous cases in the lower federal and state courts on a wide range of constitutional, civil, and criminal matters.
With the resignation of Rachel Brand as Associate Attorney General on February 8, 2018, Francisco became the fourth-ranking official in the Justice Department. Francisco received an ethics waiver on April 24, 2018, which relieved him of a previous obligation to recuse himself from any investigation in which his former employer, law firm Jones Day, was involved. Jones Day, which owed Francisco approximately $500,000, represented the Trump presidential campaign in the Special Counsel investigation.
On June 17, 2020, Francisco announced that he would be leaving his post at the Department of Justice, effective July 3, 2020. In his three years as United States Solicitor General, Francisco had represented the United States government in over 150 merit cases, and personally argued in 17.
As Solicitor General, Francisco was characterized as an "aggressive defender" of Trump. As Solicitor General, Francisco sought to have the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) struck down. He defended Trump's travel ban, which barred people from seven majority-Muslim countries. He sought to prevent Congress from accessing a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report into Russian interference in the 2016 election. He defended the Justice Department's decision to withdraw a case against Trump associate Michael Flynn even after Flynn had pleaded guilty. He fought against a subpoena to turn over Trump's tax records to the Manhattan District Attorney.
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