Did U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli forget to eat his salmon?
Verrilli was roundly criticized today for his lackluster performance in the Supreme Court arguing the Obama administration’s case for the Health Care Reform Act.
“Solicitor General Coughs, Stumbles, Stutters Through ObamaCare Defense” read a headline at Buzzfeed by political writer Zeke Miller.
CNN’s Jeffery Toobin was also criticial. “I don’t know why he had a bad day,” he said. “He is a good lawyer, he was a perfectly fine lawyer in the really sort of tangential argument yesterday. He was not ready for the answers for the conservative justices,” he said.
Three days earlier, however, the New York Times wrote a glowing profile of Verrilli as he prepared to argue the Supreme Court case.
“If history is any guide, Donald B. Verrilli Jr. will hole up in a hotel close to the Supreme Court building, eat only salmon for dinner because it is said to help brain function, and give his undivided attention to the final preparations for what promises to be the biggest case of his life,” wrote reporter Ian Urbina of the Times.
The profile quotes Verrilli’s colleuges who lavish praise on Verrilli.
“Poised, confident, concise and brilliant,” asserts one person quoted in the article. “His thoughtfulness, preparation and civility gave him a gravitas that commanded the respect of others,” says another.
“A tall man with a baritone voice and a salt-and-pepper mustache, Mr. Verrilli, 54, is described by friends as exceedingly polite and disarmingly self-effacing. During trials, he makes a habit of graciously acknowledging opponents when he thinks they make a fair point,” the article continued.
His other skills?
“Former colleagues said that Mr. Verrilli was also a skilled cook, mostly of Italian cuisine.”
