The New Yorker: Meet SG3: The Élite Legal Squad That Vowed to Safeguard the Election
February 20, 2021
O’Melveny partner Walter Dellinger was profiled by The New Yorker alongside Seth Waxman and Donald Verrilli for his role as a member of SG3, a small cadre of former Solicitors General tasked with projecting the “Doomsday scenarios” that could threaten the legitimacy of the 2020 US presidential election. Dellinger served as Acting Solicitor General under the Clinton Administration between 1996-1997.
Together, the SG3 planned contingencies for every proverbial wrench that could undermine the gears of democracy before, during, or after the November election. Dellinger told the publication his personal focus was on “what could go wrong after the electors cast their ballots, in December.” That included the potential rejection of Electoral College certification by the Vice President. “We were fully prepared to go to the Supreme Court by nightfall,” he said. “We had paper filed and ready.”
Dellinger added that “[e]ven though we planned for every possible loony scenario we could think of,” no one predicted what would transpire at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The New Yorker subscribers can read the full article here.