I have two professional cats.

Although it probably won’t get nearly as much press as the Supreme Court vacancy, who fills the vacancy of the solicitor general position has a huge impact on our country. The holder of that position represents the government before the Supreme Court, including, in recent years, cases high court litigation regarding the PATRIOT Act, treatment of foreign detainees, and the extent of presidential power.

Elana Kagan, who Obama nominated to fill a vacant Supreme Court seat, recently stepped down as solicitor general to prepare for her confirmation hearings.

Here are three prospective Kagan successors “government officials” say are on President Obama’s short list:

¶ Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, Kagan’s former deputy. Forgive me for quoting Wikipedia, which presents a concise recent history of Katyal:

Prof. Katyal was the “Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law” at Georgetown University Law Center and the lead counsel for the Guantanamo Bay detainees in the Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which held that military commissions set up by the Bush administration to try detainees at Guantanamo Bay “violate both the UCMJ and the four Geneva Conventions.” While serving at the Justice Department, he has argued numerous Supreme Court cases, including his successful defense (by an 8-1 decision) of the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the landmark case, Northwest Austin v. Holder … Katyal is of Indian descent and was born in the United States to immigrant parents … He appeared on The Colbert Report on July 26, 2006 and June 17, 2008.

¶ White House lawyer Donald Verrilli.

CNN reports:

Verrilli previously was associate deputy attorney general … Before joining the administration, he was a longtime private lawyer, focusing on business and copyright cases. He represented the Recording Industry of America in its lawsuit against a Minnesota woman who was accused of illegally downloading music files online. That case is still pending … He also represented MGM Studios in the so-called “Grokster” case on illegal downloads, which reached the high court in 2005. The justices unanimously concluded software companies operating peer-to-peer networks could be held liable for providing file-sharing technology to customers who then download copyrighted material. — CNN Political Ticker, May 12

¶ Washington Governor Chris Gregoire, a Democrat in her second term. She endorsed President Obama early in his presidential run.

The Seattle Times reports:

She worked as an attorney in the state Attorney General’s office from 1977 to 1988. And she was elected state Attorney General in 1992. She served in that role nearly 12 years before running for governor in 2004 … She personally argued three cases — on matters ranging from stream-flow requirements to the state obscenity law — before the U.S. Supreme Court during her career there. Two as attorney general and one as a deputy. She won all of them. — Andrew Garber and Kyung M. Song, Seattle Times, May 12

It’ll be interesting to see who Obama nominates and how this is covered. It’s a rather obscure issue, and for the foreseeable future, economic and election news figure to dominate.