Jeffrey P. Minear, senior litigation counsel and assistant to the Solicitor General, United States Department of Justice, has been selected by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., as his new administrative assistant. Minear, 51, will start work at the Supreme Court on September 11, 2006. He succeeds Sally M. Rider, who is leaving the Court to become the director of The William H. Rehnquist Center on the Constitutional Structures of Government at the University of Arizona.

The administrative assistant position was created by statute in 1972. The administrative assistant serves as the Court's chief of staff and aids the Chief Justice in his overall management of the Court, provides research in support of the Chief Justice's public addresses and statements, and monitors developments in the field of judicial administration and court reform. The administrative assistant also assists the Chief Justice with his other statutory responsibilities as head of the Third Branch of government. These include the Chief Justice's role as chairman of the Judicial Conference of the United States, chairman of the board of the Federal Judicial Center, and chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution. "I have worked with (and against) Jeff over nearly two decades, and during that time I have seen first hand his strong commitment to the Supreme Court as an institution and his respect for its role in our system of government," the Chief Justice said in announcing Minear's appointment. "I am delighted that he has agreed to undertake this important public service."

Minear was a chemical engineer for Union Carbide Corporation in Texas City, Texas, from 1977 to 1979. After receiving his law degree in 1982, he held a one-year appointment as a judicial clerk for Judge Monroe G. McKay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Minear then joined the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the United States Department of Justice, where he worked on policy, legislative, and appellate matters from 1983 to 1985. From 1985 to 1998, he was assistant to the Solicitor General, United States Department of Justice, responsible for Supreme Court and appellate litigation focusing on civil, environmental, and intellectual property issues. In his current position as senior litigation counsel, Minear is responsible for Supreme Court and appellate litigation and for overseeing the government's participation in all Supreme Court original actions. Minear has argued 56 cases before the Supreme Court.

Minear received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Utah College of Engineering in 1977. He received a master's of science degree in resource policy and management in 1982 from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1982. Minear has held appointments as a visiting professor at Washington and Lee University Law School and the University of Utah College of Law. He is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches a seminar on the history and role of the Office of the Solicitor General.