Nov 01, 2010 · The attorney general is the state’s lawyer. In many respects, the position is one that is prosecutorial in nature. However, given the limited resources the office has and the limitless demands for its attention, politics dictate the direction of those resources to a monumental extent. Both men are eager to be elected and there should be ...
The attorney general is head of the u.s. justice department 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 ...
Mar 23, 2010 · On the federal level in the United States, the Office of the Attorney General heads the Department of Justice and is the chief law enforcement office in the federal government. The attorney general is responsible for legally representing the United States and advising the president and heads of executive departments when his or her opinion is needed.
Apr 17, 2022 · Definition of attorney general. : the chief law officer of a nation or state who represents the government in litigation and serves as its principal legal adviser.
Attorney General | Years of service |
---|---|
Merrick Garland | 2021-Present |
John Macpherson Berrien | 1829-1831 |
William Wirt | 1817-1829 |
Richard Rush | 1814-1817 |
In June 1870 Congress enacted a law entitled “An Act to Establish the Department of Justice.” This Act established the Attorney General as head of the Department of Justice and gave the Attorney General direction and control of U.S. Attorneys and all other counsel employed on behalf of the United States. The Act also vested in the Attorney General supervisory power over the accounts of U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Marshals.
Office of the Deputy Attorney General. On May 24, 1950, Attorney General J. Howard McGrath created the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG). The Deputy Attorney, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the Department's second-ranking official and functions as a Chief Operating Officer;
The Deputy Attorney, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the Department's second-ranking official and functions as a Chief Operating Officer ; 25 components and 93 U.S. Attorneys report directly to the Deputy and 13 additional components report to the Deputy through the Associate Attorney General.
Office of the Associate Attorney General. The Office of the Associate Attorney General (OASG) was created by Attorney General Order No. 699-77 on March 10, 1977. As the third-ranking official at the Department of Justice, the ASG is a principal member of the Attorney General’s senior management team. The major functions of the ASG are to:
Furnish advice and opinions, formal and informal, on legal matters to the President and the Cabinet and to the heads of the executive departments and agencies of the government, as provided by law.
The mission of the ODAG is to advise and assist the Attorney General in formulating and implementing Department policies and programs and in providing overall supervision and direction to all organizational units of the Department. The major functions of the DAG are to:
Act on behalf of the Attorney General for purposes of authorizing searches and electronic surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and Executive Order 12333 on Intelligence. Review and recommend to the Attorney General whether to seek or decline to seek the death penalty in specific cases.
Attorney General. The chief law enforcement officer of the United States or of a state government, typically serving in an Executive Branch position. The individual represents the government in litigation and serves as the principal advisor to government officials and agencies in legal matters.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 attorney general is responsible for legally representing the United States and advising ...
Holder was the first African-American to serve as the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., and the first African-American to be deputy attorney general. As attorney general, he was also the highest-ranking African-American person in law enforcement in the United States.
The attorney general is responsible for legally representing the United States and advising the president and heads of executive departments when his or her opinion is needed. The attorney general also may appear before the Supreme Court.
Recent Examples on the Web The state attorney general declined to file charges against the officer and said the force was justified but the officer’s actions before the fight led to the altercation. — NBC News, 6 Feb.
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