Nation : Starr Reported as Solicitor Choice

WASHINGTON —  The Justice Department has recommended conservative federal appeals judge Kenneth W. Starr as the new U.S. solicitor general, department sources said today.

If nominated by President Bush and approved by the Senate, Starr, 42, would serve as the federal government’s chief representative before the Supreme Court. “I understand it’s a done deal,” said one department source, speaking on condition of anonymity. Starr was a clerk for former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger and later a partner with the Los Angeles law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He served as counselor to Atty. Gen. William French Smith from 1981 until his appointment to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 1983.