SEATTLE _ Noah Purcell is not used to this _ sitting in a dark, little box with a camera facing him and MSNBC's Chris Matthews shouting in his ear.
On Friday morning, three guys in downtown Seattle stopped the Washington state solicitor general just to applaud.
"The Daily Show" called the office. High school students want to take selfies with him.
Purcell is not the only one deserving attention, he protested during a recent interview, for the state's successful challenge to the Trump administration's executive order on immigration. "I did the argument. ... There's a lot of people who have worked on this case."
Welcome to the national media spotlight, Mr. Purcell. You'll be listed in the cast of characters as President Trump opponent No. 2.
A week and a half ago, Purcell stood before U.S. District Judge James Robart to argue against Trump's controversial travel ban order. He was nervous.
"It was probably the most significant argument of my life until the one in the 9th Circuit, and I had less time to prepare than I'd ever had," he said.
A few days later, Purcell was pacing his office alone, on a conference call carried live by CNN and others as three 9th Circuit judges raked him and a Department of Justice lawyer over the judicial coals.
The court sided with Purcell and Washington state in refusing to reinstate the ban, which barred travel into the United States from seven majority-Muslim nations.
His performance so far in foiling Trump _ "two for two," as his boss, Attorney General Bob Ferguson, quipped Thursday _ has people wondering just who is this fresh-faced attorney, and where did he come from?
The 37-year-old's resume is impressive: law degree from Harvard, U.S. Supreme Court clerk, associate at a highly regarded Seattle law firm with deep ties to the Democratic Party.
But Purcell's ideals were formed long before the lofty degrees and impressive positions, in an economically and ethnically diverse community in the heart of liberal Seattle.
