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attorney general

 
Dictionary: attorney general
 

n., pl. attorneys general or attorney generals. (Abbr. AG or Att. Gen. or Atty. Gen.)
  1. The chief law officer and legal counsel of the government of a state or nation.
  2. Attorney General The head of the U.S. Department of Justice and a member of the President's cabinet.

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Chief law-enforcement officer of a state and legal adviser to the chief executive. The office dates to the Middle Ages but did not assume its modern form until the 16th century. In the U.S., the position dates to the Judiciary Act of 1789. Head of the Department of Justice and a member of the cabinet, the attorney general oversees all the government's law business and acts as the president's legal adviser. Every U.S. state also has an attorney general.

For more information on attorney general, visit Britannica.com.

 
British History: attorney-general
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The chief law officer of the crown who acts as the crown's representative in legal proceedings. The title attorney-general of England was first used in 1461. During the 17th cent. the attorney-general was often accused of subservience to the monarch and of being over-zealous in prosecuting in state trials, as in the notorious prosecution of Sir Walter Ralegh by Coke in 1603. The modern attorney-general is a hybrid member of the government in that he is the government's legal adviser and representative, but also has historic functions relating to the administration of the law. In these cases he is required to be non-political.

 
Law Encyclopedia: Attorney General
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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

The attorney general is head of the U.S. Department of Justice and chief law officer of the federal government. He or she represents the United States in legal matters generally, and gives advice and opinions to the president and to other heads of executive departments as requested. In cases of exceptional gravity or special importance, the attorney general may appear in person before the U.S. Supreme Court to represent the interests of the government.

As head of the Department of Justice, the attorney general is charged with enforcing federal laws, furnishing legal counsel in federal cases, construing the laws under which other executive departments act, supervising federal penal institutions, and investigating violations of federal laws. The attorney general also supervises and directs the activities of the U.S. attorneys and U.S. marshals in the various judicial districts. (U.S. attorneys prosecute all offenses against the United States, and prosecute or defend, for the government, all civil actions, suits, or proceedings in which the United States is concerned; U.S. marshals execute all lawful writs, processes, and orders issued under authority of the United States.)

The office of the attorney general was created by the First Congress in the Judiciary Act of 1789 (An Act to Establish the Judicial Courts of the United States, ch. 20, § 35, 1 Stat. 73, 92-93). The First Congress did not expect the attorney general — a part-time employee with scant pay, no staff, and little power — to play a major role in the emerging federal government. As the members of the First Congress established a system for the enforcement of federal laws, their primary concern was to protect state and individual freedoms and to avoid the creation of a central legal system that would allow the tyrannies they had experienced as American colonists under George III. Therefore, the Judiciary Act gave the attorney general just two principal duties: (1) to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court of the United States that concerned the United States and (2) to give an opinion on questions of law when asked to do so by the president or heads of other executive departments.

The early attorneys general spent little time arguing before the Supreme Court, because few cases had traveled through the nation's developing court system and even fewer warranted Supreme Court review. Together, the first three attorneys general — Edmund Randolph, Wil- liam Bradford, and Charles Lee — represented the United States in the Supreme Court only six times in their collective years in office.

Furthermore, early attorneys general were specifically restricted by the Judiciary Act from participating in lower-court actions. District attorneys (known today as U.S. attorneys) held the authority to represent the United States in district and circuit courts. Each district attorney could independently decide which cases to pursue and on what grounds — a situation that soon resulted in a number of contradictory legal positions for the federal government. Because the attorney general had no power to direct district attorneys in their lower-court litigation, the officeholder was often unaware of litigation that concerned the interests of the United States.

In a letter to President George Washington dated December 26, 1791, Attorney General Randolph expressed concern about the limitations of his office and complained specifically about the lack of a defined relationship with the district attorneys. Randolph was the first of many attorneys general to point out that their prescribed duties did not allow them to fully look after the interests of the United States, and he was the first to propose an expansion of the office's duties and jurisdiction.

Ignoring complaints and proposals, Congress remained reluctant to expand the duties of the attorney general and often passed legislation that assigned special legal functions to officials in other government departments. For example, in the early 1800s, Congress created a solicitor of the treasury to handle all suits for the recovery of money or property in the United States — a move that further complicated the attorney general's efforts to fully look after the interests of the government.

With court appearances limited by the lack of both cases before the Supreme Court and jurisdiction to oversee lower-court cases, opinion writing consumed most of the time of early attorneys general. Together, Attorneys General Randolph, Bradford, and Lee wrote more than forty formal opinions on such diverse issues as immunity for diplomats, applications for patents, and the choice of directors for the nation's first federal bank. However, early attorneys general were not required to provide the government with written records of their opinions. When William Wirt, the eleventh attorney general, took office in 1817, he found that his predecessors had provided no record of their past opinions to guide his deliberations. Understandably, early attorneys general, who received only a small stipend for their services and relied on the private practice of law for their personal income, spent little money to hire clerks to transcribe and preserve their work. They simply relied on the recipients of their opinions to retain them for future reference. Still, legislative attempts to provide the attorney general with an office, a clerk, and supplies continually failed to win support.

The limited duties outlined for the attorney general by the First Congress, along with the lack of perquisites for the office, made it hard for presidents to attract qualified appointees and keep them in office. Even President Washington had difficulty convincing his personal attorney and long-time friend, Randolph, to take the job. Washington finally won Randolph over by pointing out that service as attorney general might enhance his earning opportunities in private practice. In fact, Randolph did not profit much from the prestige of the office during or after his tenure. Subsequent attorneys general did profit handsomely from the experience, but early officeholders often had difficulty balancing the dual commitments to private practice and public service.

The commitment to public service for early attorneys general was further complicated by institutional tensions between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, which all claimed the officeholder's time, services, and allegiance. It has been said that the attorney general serves "three masters": the president, the Congress, and the courts (American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research 1968). Although the attorney general advises the president, the basic authority of the office is derived from Congress and the functions of the office are subject to congressional control. In addition, the attorney general is a member of the bar and therefore an officer of the court subject to the directives of the judicial branch.

Although the First Congress defined the relationship between the attorney general and the president, it did not define the relationship between the attorney general and Congress. And it was notably silent regarding who was ultimately to decide when and whether the interests of the United States were "concerned": nothing in the Judiciary Act of 1789 specified who should control the attorney general or to whom she or he should report. Early attorneys general took orders from the Congress as well as from the president and the heads of other executive departments. Attorneys general were often asked to deliver opinions to Congress on legislative proposals, and they came to be viewed as authorities on constitutional issues — much to the chagrin of both legislators, who frequently disagreed with their interpretations, and members of the judiciary, who assumed that they themselves were the final arbiters in constitutional matters.

The attorney general has also been said to straddle the legal and political worlds. When Congress created the executive departments, it did not specify who should or should not be members of the president's cabinet — and it could not predict the level of influence held by any one individual. In the early years, the attorney general did not have cabinet rank but served as counsel to those who did. However, as Washington's personal legal adviser, Randolph participated in cabinet meetings as early as 1792, establishing the precedent for attorneys general to have a hand in making policy as well as in interpreting and enforcing the laws. The attorney general's role in policy making soon brought into question the extent to which party lines and presidential preferences influenced his or her legal advice. Over time, some attorneys general have handled the dichotomy with more integrity, and less partisanship, than others.

The lack of centralized authority and the lack of basic institutional support for the office of the attorney general began to be remedied by Congress in the early nineteenth century. Subsequently, many of the issues caused or influenced by conflicting allegiances were dissolved or clarified through administrative policy and legislation.

In 1814, during Attorney General Richard Rush's term, President James Madison made the first move to expand formally the presence (if not the duties) of the attorney general, by proposing a requirement that the attorney general reside in or near Washington, D.C., while Congress was in session. The residency requirement had previously been resisted by some attorneys general. Although it made the officeholder available to the president and Congress when the attorney general was most needed, it also made the private practice of law more inconvenient to an attorney general who lived far from the Capitol.

Attorney General Wirt (1817-29), under Presidents James Monroe and John Quincy Adams, was the first to comprehend fully the officeholder's need for administrative structure. During his tenure, the attorney general was finally given government office space, a transcribing clerk, and a small fund for office supplies. The practice of providing opinions to Congress was also curtailed during this period, when Wirt presented a paper to President Monroe outlining the extent of his congressional workload and his objections. Wirt told the president that opinions had been provided to Congress in the past as a courtesy — not as a matter of law. Wirt told the president the practice would not continue unless Congress revised the law and made it mandatory.

By 1853, when Caleb Cushing became attorney general under President Franklin Pierce, the officeholder had four clerks and — for the first time — a salary comparable to those of other cabinet officers. Also in 1853, Cushing decided it was no longer appropriate to continue the private practice of law while in office. He was the nation's first full-time attorney general.

Recommendations that a department of law be created by Congress were discussed as early as 1830 and were championed by numerous presidents and attorneys general. A department of justice was first suggested in 1851 by Alex H. H. Stuart, secretary of the newly established Department of the Interior.

No action was taken by Congress until February 25, 1870, when the Joint Committee on Retrenchments (appointed to find ways of reducing government expenditures) drafted a bill to consolidate legal functions and create a department of justice. The bill was made into law four months later, and the Department of Justice officially came into existence on July 1, 1870 (An Act to Establish the Department of Justice, §17, 16 Stat. 162 [June 22, 1870]).

The June 22, 1870, law created a new position, that of solicitor general, whose holder is in charge of representing the government in suits and appeals in the Supreme Court and in lower federal trial and appellate courts, in cases involving the interests of the United States. The law also provided for two assistant attorneys general. It gave the attorney general complete direction and control of the U.S. attorneys and all other counsel employed on behalf of the United States. And it finally gave the attorney general supervisory powers over the accounts of district attorneys, marshals, clerks, and other officers of the court involved in federal matters.

The first attorney general to head the new department was Amos T. Akerman, of Georgia, appointed by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1870. So, eighty-one years after the creation of the office of the attorney general, the nation finally had a full-fledged organization to administer and enforce its laws. According to one author, the creation of the Department of Justice was "the culmination of the evolutionary process through which the Attorney Generalship developed its essential nature" (Baker 1985).

The growth of the office of the attorney general from a part-time, one-person operation into a vast and complex law enforcement organization is an inseparable part of the story of the United States and the development of its institutions. As the role of government has expanded, so too has the role of the nation's attorney general. And, though the attorney general's role continues to grow and evolve, the basic duties of the office and the structure of its supporting organization have been in place since the Civil War.

The men and women who have served as attorney general have played an integral part in U.S. history. Every attorney general from Randolph's time to the present has participated in great events and crises of her or his day. Many have served in other capacities following their term in office. Former attorneys general can be found on the U.S. Supreme Court, in cabinet-level positions, and at diplomatic posts around the world. Attorneys general have also gone on to serve in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives and as governors of various states.

 
Politics: attorney general of the United States
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The head of the United States Department of Justice and a member of the president's cabinet. The attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government.

 
Word Tutor: attorney-general
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: The chief law officer of a state or nation.

 
Wikipedia: United States Attorney General
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United States Attorney General

Official Seal
Department of Justice


Incumbent:
Eric Holder
since: February 3, 2009
First Edmund Randolph
Formation September 26, 1789
Presidential
succession
Seventh
Website www.usdoj.gov

The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see 28 U.S.C. § 503) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The Attorney General is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government. The Attorney General serves as a member of the President's Cabinet, but is the only cabinet department head who is not given the title Secretary, besides the now defunct Postmaster General.

The Attorney General is nominated by the President of the United States and takes office after confirmation by the United States Senate. He or she serves at the pleasure of the President and can be removed by the President at any time; the Attorney General is also subject to impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial in the Senate for "treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors."

The office of Attorney General was established by Congress by the Judiciary Act of 1789. The original duties of this officer were "to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States shall be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the President of the United States, or when requested by the heads of any of the departments."[1] Only in 1870 was the Department of Justice established to support the Attorney General in the discharge of his responsibilities.

As of February 3, 2009, the current Attorney General is Eric Holder.[2] He was confirmed on February 2.[3] Holder is the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and the first African-American to hold the position.

Contents

List of Attorneys General

     Denotes acting Attorneys General

# Picture Name State of Residence Term of Office President(s) served under
1 Edmund Randolph Virginia September 26, 1789 January 26, 1794 George Washington
2 William Bradford Pennsylvania January 27, 1794 August 23, 1795
3 Charles Lee Virginia December 10, 1795 February 19, 1801 George Washington,
John Adams
4 Levi Lincoln, Sr. Massachusetts March 5, 1801 March 2, 1805 Thomas Jefferson
5 John Breckinridge Kentucky August 7, 1805 December 14, 1806
6 Caesar A. Rodney Delaware January 20, 1807 December 10, 1811 Thomas Jefferson,
James Madison
7 William Pinkney Maryland December 11, 1811 February 9, 1814 James Madison
8 Richard Rush Pennsylvania February 10, 1814 November 12, 1817
9 William Wirt Virginia November 13, 1817 March 4, 1829 James Monroe,
John Quincy Adams
10 John M. Berrien Georgia March 9, 1829 July 19, 1831 Andrew Jackson
11 Roger B. Taney Maryland July 20, 1831 November 14, 1833
12 Benjamin Franklin Butler New York November 15, 1833 July 4, 1838 Andrew Jackson,
Martin Van Buren
13 Felix Grundy Tennessee July 5, 1838 January 10, 1840 Martin Van Buren
14 Henry D. Gilpin Pennsylvania January 11, 1840 March 4, 1841
15 John J. Crittenden Kentucky March 5, 1841 September 12, 1841 William Harrison,
John Tyler
16 Hugh Swinton Legaré South Carolina September 13, 1841 June 30, 1843 John Tyler
17 John Nelson Maryland July 1, 1843 March 4, 1845
18 John Y. Mason Virginia March 5, 1845 October 16, 1846 James Polk
19 Nathan Clifford Maine October 17, 1846 March 17, 1848
20 Isaac Toucey Connecticut June 21, 1848 March 4, 1849
21 Reverdy Johnson Maryland March 8, 1849 July 21, 1850 Zachary Taylor
22 John J. Crittenden Kentucky July 22, 1850 March 4, 1853 Millard Fillmore
23 Caleb Cushing Massachusetts March 7, 1853 March 4, 1857 Franklin Pierce
24 Jeremiah S. Black Pennsylvania March 6, 1857 December 16, 1860 James Buchanan
25 Edwin M. Stanton Ohio December 20, 1860 March 4, 1861
26 Edward Bates Missouri March 5, 1861 November 24, 1864 Abraham Lincoln
27 James Speed Kentucky December 2, 1864 July 22, 1866 Abraham Lincoln,
Andrew Johnson
28 Henry Stanberry Ohio July 23, 1866 July 16, 1868 Andrew Johnson
29 William M. Evarts New York July 17, 1868 March 4, 1869
30 Ebenezer R. Hoar Massachusetts March 5, 1869 November 22, 1870 Ulysses Grant
31 Amos T. Akerman Georgia November 23, 1870 December 13, 1871
32 George Henry Williams Oregon December 14, 1871 April 25, 1875
33 Edwards Pierrepont New York April 26, 1875 May 21, 1876
34 Alphonso Taft Ohio May 22, 1876 March 4, 1877
35 Charles Devens Massachusetts March 12, 1877 March 4, 1881 Rutherford Hayes
36 Wayne MacVeagh Pennsylvania March 5, 1881 December 15, 1881 James Garfield,
Chester Arthur
37 Benjamin H. Brewster Pennsylvania December 16, 1881 March 4, 1885 Chester Arthur
38 Augustus H. Garland Arkansas March 6, 1885 March 4, 1889 Grover Cleveland
39 William Miller Indiana March 7, 1889 March 4, 1893 Benjamin Harrison
40 Richard Olney Massachusetts March 6, 1893 April 7, 1895 Grover Cleveland
41 Judson Harmon Ohio April 8, 1895 March 4, 1897
42 Joseph McKenna California March 5, 1897 January 25, 1898 William McKinley
43 John W. Griggs New Jersey January 25, 1898 March 29, 1901
44 Philander C. Knox Pennsylvania April 5, 1901 June 30, 1904 William McKinley,
Theodore Roosevelt
45 William H. Moody Massachusetts July 1, 1904 December 17, 1906 Theodore Roosevelt
46 Charles J. Bonaparte Maryland December 17, 1906 March 4, 1909
47 George W. Wickersham New York March 4, 1909 March 4, 1913 William Taft
48 James C. McReynolds New York March 5, 1913 August 29, 1914 Woodrow Wilson
49 Thomas Watt Gregory Texas August 29, 1914 March 4, 1919
50 Alexander Mitchell Palmer Pennsylvania March 5, 1919 March 4, 1921
51 Harry M. Daugherty Ohio March 4, 1921 April 6, 1924 Warren Harding,
Calvin Coolidge
52 Harlan F. Stone New York April 7, 1924 March 1, 1925 Calvin Coolidge
53 John G. Sargent Vermont March 7, 1925 March 4, 1929
54 William D. Mitchell Minnesota March 4, 1929 March 4, 1933 Herbert Hoover
55 Homer Stille Cummings Connecticut March 4, 1933 January 1, 1939 Franklin Roosevelt
56 Frank Murphy Michigan January 2, 1939 January 18, 1940
57 Robert H. Jackson New York January 18, 1940 August 25, 1941
58 Francis Biddle Pennsylvania August 26, 1941 June 26, 1945 Franklin Roosevelt,
Harry Truman
59 Tom C. Clark Texas June 27, 1945 July 26, 1949 Harry Truman
60 J. Howard McGrath Rhode Island July 27, 1949 April 3, 1952
61 James P. McGranery Pennsylvania April 4, 1952 January 20, 1953
62 Herbert Brownell, Jr. New York January 21, 1953 October 23, 1957 Dwight Eisenhower
63 William P. Rogers New York October 23, 1957 January 20, 1961
64 Robert F. Kennedy Massachusetts, New York January 20, 1961 September 3, 1964 John F. Kennedy,
Lyndon B. Johnson
65 Nicholas Katzenbach Illinois September 4, 1964 January 28, 1965 Lyndon Johnson
January 28, 1965 November 28, 1966
66 Ramsey Clark Texas November 28, 1966 March 10, 1967
March 10, 1967 January 20, 1969
67 John N. Mitchell New York January 20, 1969 February 15, 1972 Richard Nixon
68 Richard Kleindienst Arizona February 15, 1972 May 25, 1973
69 Elliot Richardson Massachusetts May 25, 1973 October 20, 1973
- Robert Bork Pennsylvania October 20, 1973 December 17, 1973
70 William B. Saxbe Ohio December 17, 1973 January 14, 1975 Richard Nixon,
Gerald Ford
71 Edward H. Levi Illinois January 14, 1975 January 20, 1977 Gerald Ford
72 Griffin Bell Georgia January 26, 1977 August 16, 1979 Jimmy Carter
73 Benjamin Civiletti Maryland August 16, 1979 January 19, 1981
74 William French Smith California January 23, 1981 February 25, 1985 Ronald Reagan
75 Edwin Meese California February 25, 1985 August 12, 1988
76 Dick Thornburgh Pennsylvania August 12, 1988 August 15, 1991 Ronald Reagan,
George H. W. Bush
77 William Barr New York August 16, 1991 November 26, 1991 George H. W. Bush
November 26, 1991 January 20, 1993
- Stuart M. Gerson Maryland January 20, 1993 March 12, 1993 Bill Clinton
78 Janet Reno Florida March 12, 1993 January 20, 2001
- Eric Holder Washington, D.C. January 20, 2001 February 2, 2001 George W. Bush
79 John Ashcroft Missouri February 2, 2001 February 3, 2005
80 Alberto Gonzales Texas February 3, 2005 September 17, 2007
- Paul D. Clement Wisconsin September 17, 2007 September 18, 2007
- Peter Keisler New York September 18, 2007 November 9, 2007
81 Michael Mukasey New York November 9, 2007 January 20, 2009
- Mark Filip Illinois January 20, 2009 February 3, 2009 Barack Obama
82 Eric Holder Washington, D.C. February 3, 2009 present

Living Former Attorneys General

See also

References

General

[4]

Specific
  1. ^ Judiciary Act of 1789, section 35.
  2. ^ Staff (n.d.). "USDOJ: Office of the Attorney General". US Department of Justice. http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/. Retrieved on 2009-02-03. "Eric H. Holder Jr. was sworn in as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States on February 3, 2009 by Vice-President Joe Biden. President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Mr. Holder on December 1, 2008." 
  3. ^ Margasak, Larry (February 2, 2009). "Senate confirms Holder as first black AG". Associated Press. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/holder_confirmation. Retrieved on February 2, 2009. 
  4. ^ "The Attorneys General of the United States". United States Department of Justice. http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/attygeneraldate.html. Retrieved on 2009-05-26. 

 
Translations: Attorney-General
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - den amerikanske justitsminister

Français (French)
n. - (GB) procureur général, (US) garde des Sceaux, ministre de la Justice

Deutsch (German)
n. - Justizminister, Generalstaatsanwalt

Español (Spanish)
n. - Fiscal del Tribunal Supremo

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (연방 정부의)법무 장관

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮פרקליט המדינה בבריטניה, ארה"ב ועוד, תובע כללי‬


 
 

 

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