Influential, admired lawyer had key post under Clinton
DURHAM, N.C. — Walter E. Dellinger, a constitutional scholar who argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court, served in top positions in the Justice Department and taught for decades at Duke University, died Wednesday. He was 80.
Mr. Dellinger died Wednesday morning in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, his son Hampton Dellinger said.
During the administration of former President Bill Clinton, Mr. Dellinger headed up the influential Office of Legal Counsel that advises the attorney general on often sensitive legal and policy issues and served as the acting solicitor general, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer.
While serving as acting solicitor general during the 1996-97 term of the high court, he argued nine cases, more than any of his predecessors in two decades at the time. Mr. Dellinger was an emeritus professor at the Duke University School of Law.
On Wednesday, he was remembered for his friendship and guidance.
“Walter was a great mentor and friend to me. He gave the best advice when I became Solicitor General, sharing everything he knew about the job,” Justice Elena Kagan, who served as solicitor general during the Obama administration, said in a statement. “He was generous and kind, and he made everyone he dealt with feel ten feet tall. He was a phenomenal lawyer with an endless string of accomplishments, but he always gave the credit to others.”
Justice Stephen Breyer called Mr. Dellinger “a great lawyer and a valuable public servant.”
Mr. Dellinger remained an active commentator on legal, political and other news until just before his death. Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Mr. Dellinger helped lead a legal team assembled by Democrats to take on election-related court cases. And in early February, Dellinger spoke out in defense of Biden’s pledge to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court in an essay published by the New York Times.