Paul Clement used to argue for the federal government's power until he started arguing against it.
But he's no flip-flopping political candidate; he's a lawyer. Changes like this are part of his job.
Clement is playing a key role in three politically charged Supreme Court
cases in which Republican-led states object to Obama administration
policies or federal laws on health care, immigration and redrawing
political boundaries.
In the biggest of those, the 45-year-old law school acquaintance of
President Barack Obama will be trying to sink Obama's health care
overhaul.
Not that long ago, Clement would regularly stand before the justices and
defend even the most aggressive uses of federal power, making his case
without written notes and parrying questions with an easy banter.
He argued for the Bush administration's policy on detaining suspected
terrorists, a federal law outlawing a medical procedure called
"partial-birth abortion" by opponents, the McCain-Feingold law aimed at
limiting the influence of money in politics and a federal ban on the use
of marijuana for medical purposes.
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