> I've been exposed to or worked on a few style guides on this topic. I think pretty much universally, in US media, "White House" means elements of the executive branch outside the cabinet-level departments.
That would mean most non-cabinet and "independent" agencies -- all of which are part of the executive branch and not part of a cabinet-level department -- would be part of the "White House", which assuredly is not the common use.
Usually, it means specifically the Executive Office of the President. (Rarely, it might even more specifically mean the White House Office, which is within the Executive Office of the President and, like the Executive Office, also headed by the White House Chief of Staff.)
> So it includes the Executive Office of the President, the OMB, ONDCP, DoJ, etc.
OMB and ONDCP are part of the Executive Office of the President. [0]
DoJ (which, relevant to the thread, includes the Office of the Solicitor General) is a cabinet-level department (headed by the Attorney-General), and so even if your excessively-broad "outside the cabinet-level departments" rule was correct, would still be excluded.
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Office_of_the_Preside...
