how can the president fire the us attorney

Can a president fire an attorney general?

Aug 27, 2009 · The president can fire the attorney general. O bama administration spokesmen are portraying the president as unable to overrule Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to have a …

Why is it so hard to fire a US Attorney?

Jan 31, 2017 · The party affiliation of the attorney general can be whatever he wants. Generally, the president chooses his attorney general base on qualification and shared ideals. This quite often means the attorney general and the president are in the same political party.

Why did the Obama administration fire so many attorneys?

Jun 20, 2020 · For one thing, the President may override the judges' decision and remove an interim United States Attorney. See 28 U.S.C. § 541 (c). For another thing, the President retains the right to nominate...

Was Trump within his rights to fire 46 attorneys?

Mar 14, 2007 · The president has the legal authority to hire and fire them. The U.S. Code says the president “shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a United States attorney for each...

Can the US attorney general be impeached?

Attorneys General. While impeachment proceedings against cabinet secretaries is an exceedingly rare event, no office has provoked the ire of the House of Representatives than that of Attorney General. During the first fifth of the 21st century, no less than three Attorneys General have been subjected to the process.

Does the president appoint US attorneys?

United States Attorneys are appointed by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, and serve at the direction of the Attorney General.Feb 16, 2022

Who appoints the US attorney general?

the president of the United StatesThe attorney general is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States. Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution, the officeholder is nominated by the president of the United States, then appointed with the advice and consent of the United States Senate.

Are US District Attorneys elected?

Depending upon the state's law, DAs may be appointed by the chief executive of the jurisdiction or elected by local voters. Most criminal matters in the United States are handled in state judicial systems, but a comparable office for the United States Federal government is the United States Attorney.

How are U.S. attorneys selected?

U.S. Attorneys are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and they serve terms of four years or at the President's discretion.

Do U.S. attorneys have to be confirmed by the Senate?

Appointment. The U.S. attorney is appointed by the President of the United States for a term of four years, with appointments subject to confirmation by the Senate.

Does the Attorney General of the US have to be a lawyer?

The Attorney-General attends Cabinet, but the post is not the same as the Minister of Justice. By tradition, persons appointed to the position of Attorney-General have been lawyers.

What powers does the US attorney general have?

Attorney General Powers and ResponsibilitiesIssuing formal opinions to state agencies.Acting as public advocates in areas such as child support enforcement, consumer protections, antitrust and utility regulation.Proposing legislation.Enforcing federal and state environmental laws.More items...

How many attorney generals are there in the US?

Of the 50 Attorneys General, 25 do not have a formal provision specifying the number of terms allowed. Of the 44 elected attorneys general, all serve four-year terms with the exception of Vermont, who serves a two-year term. 11 face a two term limit, otherwise unspecified.

Who is above the district attorney?

The state attorney general is the highest law enforcement officer in state government and often has the power to review complaints about unethical and illegal conduct on the part of district attorneys.

Who is the current U.S. Attorney General?

Merrick GarlandUnited States / Attorney generalMerrick Brian Garland is an American lawyer and jurist serving as the 86th United States attorney general since March 2021. He served as a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1997 to 2021. Wikipedia

How much do district attorneys make?

The salaries of District Attorneys in the US range from $13,279 to $356,999 , with a median salary of $64,623 . The middle 57% of District Attorneys makes between $64,627 and $162,013, with the top 86% making $356,999.

Who was the prosecutor who refused to let the Attorney General fire him?

Barr invoked the president. Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, arrived at his office in New York on Saturday hours after defying the attorney general’s attempt to fire him.

What court opinion said a president may remove a court appointed prosecutor?

The 1979 opinion pointed to one district court opinion from 1963 — also in Manhattan — which expressed the view that a president may remove a court-appointed prosecutor. In his letter, Mr. Barr also pointed to a 2000 opinion by the federal appeals court in Boston that took the same position in passing, saying that a “president may override ...

Why did Berman call the Attorney General's Bluff?

attorney in Brooklyn, said Mr. Berman had “called the attorney general’s bluff” because only the president, not Mr. Barr, had the power to remove him.

What does Mr. Harmon argue about the power of the President?

Harmon also pointed to constitutional arguments to back his conclusion: U.S. attorneys exercise executive power, making the president responsible for the conduct of their offices, so the president “must have the power to remove one he believes is an unsuitable incumbent, regardless of who appointed him,” he wrote.

Why did Barr not fire him?

Barr could not fire him because he had been appointed by the court, and declared he intended to remain in office until the Senate confirms a successor. However, another federal law says that U.S. attorneys may be removed by the president. On its face, it makes no exception ...

How long can a prosecutor serve?

attorneys following Senate confirmation, a law permits an attorney general to appoint a prosecutor to fill those vacancies for 120 days. If that temporary appointment expires, judges can fill it. A prosecutor appointed by the court will “serve until the vacancy is filled,” the statute says.

Who appointed Berman as Attorney General?

That is how Mr. Berman became U.S. attorney. He was initially appointed by the attorney general at the time, Jeff Sessions , and federal judges in Manhattan reappointed him after the 120-day period expired. In his statement Friday night, Mr. Berman indicated that Mr. Barr could not fire him because he had been appointed by the court, ...

Who can determine if a prosecution would undermine national security?

The attorney general serves at the pleasure of the president, and the president can determine that a prosecution would undermine the national security—a subject on which he has a wider perspective and a greater responsibility than the attorney general—and order that it not go forward.

Who appointed Newbold Morris as the Attorney General?

Attorney General J. Howard McGrath, a former governor of and senator from Rhode Island, appointed Newbold Morris as a special assistant attorney general in the Justice Department to investigate corruption.

Can the President fire the Attorney General?

The president can fire the attorney general. O bama administration spokesmen are portraying the president as unable to overrule Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to have a special prosecutor determine whether to prosecute CIA interrogators who were cleared by Department of Justice career attorneys back in 2004.

What was the process used to fire the first seven attorneys and two others dismissed around the same time?

A subsequent report by the Justice Department Inspector General in October 2008 found that the process used to fire the first seven attorneys and two others dismissed around the same time was "arbitrary", "fundamentally flawed" and "raised doubts about the integrity of Department prosecution decisions".

Why are emails about the firing of attorneys lost?

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel stated that some of the emails that had involved official correspondence relating to the firing of attorneys may have been lost because they were conducted on Republican party accounts and not stored properly. "Some official e-mails have potentially been lost and that is a mistake the White House is aggressively working to correct." said Stanzel, a White House spokesman. Stonzel said that they could not rule out the possibility that some of the lost emails dealt with the firing of U.S. attorneys. For example, J. Scott Jennings, an aide to Karl Rove communicated with Justice Department officials "concerning the appointment of Tim Griffin, a former Rove aide, as U.S. attorney in Little Rock, according to e-mails released in March, 2007. For that exchange, Jennings, although working at the White House, used an e-mail account registered to the Republican National Committee, where Griffin had worked as a political opposition researcher."

What was the Inspector General Report on the 2008 firings?

On September 29, 2008 the Justice Department's Inspector General (IG) released a report on the matter that found most of the firings were politically motivated and improper.

Why were some of the attorneys targeted for dismissal?

Allegations were that some of the attorneys were targeted for dismissal to impede investigations of Republican politicians or that some were targeted for their failure to initiate investigations that would damage Democratic politicians or hamper Democratic-leaning voters.

What did the IG report say about the firings?

The IG's report contained "substantial evidence" that party politics drove a number of the firings, and IG Glenn Fine said in a statement that Gonzales had "abdicated his responsibility to safeguard the integrity and independence of the department.".

What did the change in the law do to the Attorney General?

The change in the law undermined the confirmation authority of the Senate and gave the Attorney General greater appointment powers than the President, since the President's U.S. Attorney appointees are required to be confirmed by the Senate and those of the Attorney General did not require confirmation.

Why was Kevin Ryan fired?

Kevin Ryan (R) Though described as "loyal to the Bush administration," he was allegedly fired for the possible controversy that negative job performance evaluations might cause if they were released. John McKay (R) Was given a positive job evaluation 7 months before he was fired.

Who is the US Attorney for SDNY?

Today brings word that President Trump, having summarily disposed of a number of pesky Inspectors General who had the temerity to do their jobs, has now had enough of his own appointment to the position of US Attorney for the SDNY, Geoffrey Berman.

Does the judiciary's integrity affect the method of appointment?

The judiciary's integrity is not affected, and the method of appointment does not violate the doctrine of separated powers…. Here, the power to appoint is tempered in ways that ensure the appointee's independence.

Is it enough for the AG to appoint a temporary successor?

It's not enough for the AG to appoint a temporary successor (Barr has purported to name Jay Clayton of the SEC to the position) and to say: "There—your appointment has ended because 'the vacancy is filled'. Clean out your desk and begone.".

Who was the acting attorney general of the Clinton administration?

That decision-making role fell previously to Stuart Gerson, who served as acting attorney general during the early months of the Clinton administration after his role as assistant attorney general for the civil division during President George H.W. Bush’s time in office.

Who is the special counsel for the Trump-Russia collusion probe?

Naming Weiss to that role would mirror Barr’s decision to elevate John Durham, who was investigating the origins of the Justice Department’s Trump-Russia collusion probe as a U.S. attorney, into a special counsel role, a move that presumably will ensure the integrity of his work in a Biden administration.

Why did Biden call for Alberto Gonzales to resign?

In 2007, Biden publicly called for then-AG Alberto Gonzales to resign in part over the decision to fire eight U.S. attorneys amid allegations of Republican meddling in some of their investigations. Several GOP senators said they also had lost faith in Gonzales, and he eventually stepped down.

Why did Biden call for Gonzales to step down?

In his interview with Wallace, Biden defended his call for Gonzales to step down, arguing that the U.S. attorney firings were politically motivated. Biden added that he believed Gonzales had become a “creature of the president, not the attorney for the people as well as representing the president.”.

Did Biden hold hearings?

He pointed out that Biden declined to hold hearings when he was Judiciary committee chairman back in 1993 into the propriety of President Clinton’s firing of 93 of 94 U.S. attorneys, including “several who were involved in politically sensitive investigations.”.

Is Joe Biden under investigation?

In his dual role as a supportive father and the president-elect in a deeply divided nation, Joe Biden issued a terse response to his son’s disclosure last week that he was under investigation.

Does Biden want to run the Justice Department independently?

President-elect Joe Biden has vowed to restore integrity to the Justice Department and allow it to run independently, free of White House meddling. But if the experience of his predecessors is any guide, that lofty pledge is easier said than done – even if a president’s own son were not the subject of a federal investigation.

Overview

Reactions and congressional investigation

The initial reaction was from the senators of the affected states. In a letter to Gonzales on January 9, 2007, Senators Feinstein (D, California) and Leahy (D, Vermont; Chair of the Committee) of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressed concern that the confirmation process for U.S. attorneys would be bypassed, and on January 11, they, together with Senator Pryor (D, Arkansas), introduced legislation "to prevent circumvention of the Senate's constitutional prerogative to con…

Issues in brief

Fallout

Replacement of the U.S. Attorneys

Aftermath

See also

Notes