The attorney general is supported by the Office of the Attorney General, which includes executive staff and several deputies. Merrick Garland has been the United States attorney general since March 11, 2021.
Eric Holder. Jump to navigation Jump to search. 82nd Attorney General of the United States. Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015.
In 1673, the attorney general officially became the Crown's adviser and representative in legal matters, although still specialising in litigation rather than advice. The beginning of the twentieth century saw a shift away from litigation and more towards legal advice.
The Attorney General is currently not a Cabinet minister, but is designated as also attending Cabinet. The rule that no Attorney General may be a cabinet minister is a political convention rather than a law, and for a short time the Attorney General did sit in cabinet, starting with Sir Rufus Isaacs in 1912 and ending with Douglas Hogg in 1928.
Eric HolderIn office February 3, 2009 – April 27, 2015PresidentBarack ObamaDeputyDavid W. Ogden James M. Cole Sally YatesPreceded byMichael Mukasey31 more rows
Loretta LynchOfficial portrait, 201583rd United States Attorney GeneralIn office April 27, 2015 – January 20, 2017PresidentBarack Obama20 more rows
Mark FilipList of United States deputy attorneys general#NameTerm beganActingCraig S. MorfordJuly 26, 200733Mark FilipMarch 10, 200834David W. OgdenMarch 12, 2009ActingGary GrindlerFebruary 5, 201045 more rows
Jeffrey A. RosenPreceded byWilliam BarrSucceeded byMonty Wilkinson (acting)38th United States Deputy Attorney GeneralIn office May 22, 2019 – December 23, 202027 more rows
Loretta LynchLeadership[hide]Recent Attorneys GeneralEric Holder2009-2015Barack ObamaLoretta Lynch2015-2017Barack ObamaJeff Sessions2017-2018Donald TrumpWilliam Barr2019-2020Donald Trump6 more rows
President ObamaPresident Obama announced his intention to nominate Ms. Lynch as Attorney General on November 8, 2014 and she was sworn in as the 83rd Attorney General of the United States by Vice President Joe Biden on April 27, 2015.
Paul J. McNulty was confirmed as Deputy Attorney General on March 17, 2006. Mr. McNulty has spent nearly his entire career in public service, with more than 23 years of experience in federal and state government.
Comey. On October 3, 2003, President George W. Bush nominated Jim Comey to serve as Deputy Attorney General, he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on December 9, 2003, and the President signed his commission on December 11, 2003.
California Former Attorneys GeneralMatthew Rodriguez2021 – 2021Kamala D. Harris2010 – 2017Edmund G. Brown, Jr.2007 – 2011Bill Lockyer1999 – 2007Daniel E. Lungren1991 – 199929 more rows
Matthew WhitakerPresidentDonald TrumpDeputyRod RosensteinPreceded byJeff SessionsSucceeded byWilliam Barr22 more rows
Jeff SessionsOfficial portrait, 201784th United States Attorney GeneralIn office February 9, 2017 – November 7, 2018PresidentDonald Trump33 more rows
K. K. VenugopalThe 15th and current Attorney General is K. K. Venugopal. He was reappointed by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2020. He began his service on 30 June 2017.
Janet RenoIn office March 12, 1993 – January 20, 2001PresidentBill ClintonDeputyPhilip Heymann Jamie Gorelick Eric HolderPreceded byWilliam Barr16 more rows
Sharon MaloneEric H. Holder / Wife (m. 1990)
60 years (August 4, 1961)Barack Obama / Age
In May 2011, House Oversight Committee chairman, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley sent Attorney General Holder a letter requesting details about Operation Fast and Furious, which had been a failed federal firearms sting operation that allegedly allowed some 2,000 weapons to reach Mexican drug gangs. Grassley and Issa urged Holder to cooperate and turn over subpoenaed records that would reveal the scope of the alleged government coverup.
While Democrats argued that Holder was carrying out his constitutional role by honoring the executive privilege claim, on June 28, 2012, House Speaker John Boehner scheduled a vote on the contempt resolution anyway. Holder became the first U.S. Attorney General in history to be held in both criminal and civil contempt.
After graduating from Columbia Law School, Holder joined the U.S. Justice Department 's new Public Integrity Section, where he worked from 1976 to 1988. During his time there, he assisted in the prosecution of Democratic Congressman John Jenrette for bribery discovered in the Abscam sting operation. In 1988, Ronald Reagan appointed Holder to serve as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
He said that he feared that the law could lead to racial profiling. Holder received criticism on the political right for criticizing the law before he had read it in its entirety.
Under Holder's leadership, the Department of Justice brought six leak-related prosecutions against current or former U.S. government employees, while all previous Presidential administrations combined had tried a total of three such cases. Holder was reportedly "surprised" by news reports pointing out this statistic, and was said to have told associates that he did not wish to have leak prosecutions be his legacy. Several prominent leak prosecutions under Holder involved communications between criminal defendants and journalists, and the pervasive use of traceable electronic communications between journalists and their sources provided the prosecution with a tool to determine the potential origin of published information. Under Holder, the Justice Department argued that journalists had no legal protection to maintain the confidentiality of their sources, and can be compelled by the government to reveal them, or potentially face criminal contempt charges. On September 17, 2018, the Freedom of the Press Foundation obtained documents regarding the use of FISA courts to spy on journalists.
Holder gave a speech on racism on February 18, 2009, during Black History Month. "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot in things racial, we have always been, and we, I believe, continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder. "Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about things racial," he said.
At the time, al-Awlaki was an alleged leader and recruiter for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Holder later stated that "' [d]ue process ' and 'judicial process' are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process.".
On March 19, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder issued comprehensive new guidelines to the heads of executive departments and agencies governing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
They also direct agencies not to withhold records simply because a FOIA exemption may technically apply.
During the sixteenth century, the Attorney General was used to pass messages between the House of Lords and House of Commons, although he was viewed suspiciously by the Commons and seen as a tool of the Lords and the King.
In 1673 , the attorney general officially became the Crown's adviser and representative in legal matters, although still specialising in litigation rather than advice. The beginning of the twentieth century saw a shift away from litigation and more towards legal advice.
The Attorney General is also the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government, and has the primary role of advising the government on any legal repercussions of their actions , either orally at meetings or in writing. As well as the government as a whole, they also advise individual departments.
Although a valuable position, the Attorney General was expected to work incredibly hard; although Francis North (1637–1685) was earning £7,000 a year as Attorney General he was pleased to give up the office and become Chief Justice of the Common Pleas because of the smaller workload, despite the heavily reduced pay.
The rule that no Attorney General may be a cabinet minister is a political convention rather than a law, and for a short time the Attorney General did sit in cabinet, starting with Sir Rufus Isaacs in 1912 and ending with Douglas Hogg in 1928.
The origins of the office are unknown, but the earliest record of an "attorney of the crown" is from 1243 , when a professional attorney named Laurence Del Brok was paid to prosecute cases for the King, who could not appear in courts where he had an interest.
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s position is clear that the governor’s orders and state law apply to all Texans and protect their right to make
We regularly identify unique threats to Texas—and we take action to defeat them.
Ken Paxton is the 51st Attorney General of Texas. He was elected on November 4, 2014, and sworn into office on January 5, 2015.