how many presidents have fired their attorney general

Did the Clinton administration fire all 93 US Attorneys?

National Review pointed out that Janet Reno began her tenure as President Bill Clinton's attorney general in March 1993 by firing U.S. attorneys for 93 of the 94 federal districts, this being more than twice as many as Trump attorney general Sessions fired on Friday.

Why did the Obama administration fire so many attorneys?

Mar 23, 2007 · Why not focus on the Clinton administration’s having “fired all 93 U.S. attorneys” when Janet Reno became attorney general in March 1993?

Why were attorneys fired from the Department of Justice?

Jan 31, 2017 · Though there have been several instances of attorneys general resigning, it's quite rare for a president to actually fire one. Richard Nixon's turbulent presidency, in …

Who made up the list of eight prosecutors to be fired?

Jul 03, 2017 · Before he was the President, Donald Trump was most famous for booting people on TV—a habit that has proved hard to quit. So far, acting attorney general Sally Yates, national-security adviser Michael Flynn, and FBI director James Comey (above) have all found themselves on the receiving end of the onetime TV host’s catchphrase, “You’re fired.” ...

Can the President of the United States fire the attorney general?

The President of the United States has the authority to appoint U.S. Attorneys, with the consent of the United States Senate, and the President may remove U.S. Attorneys from office. In the event of a vacancy, the United States Attorney General is authorized to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney.

Can attorney general be removed?

He can be removed by the President at any time. He can quit by submitting his resignation only to the President. Since he is appointed by the President on the advice of the Council of Ministers, conventionally he is removed when the council is dissolved or replaced.

How many US attorneys did Trump replace?

This is a list of United States attorneys appointed by the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump. President Trump nominated 86 people to be U.S. attorneys, and 84 of them were confirmed.

Can a US attorney be impeached?

The U.S. Constitution provides that civil officers of the United States, which would include the U.S. Attorney General, may be impeached by the House of Representatives for treason, bribery or high crimes and misdemeanors.

Has a US Attorney General ever been 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.

Who was the last Attorney General?

California Former Attorneys GeneralMatthew Rodriguez2021 – 2021Kamala D. Harris2010 – 2017Edmund G. Brown, Jr.2007 – 2011Bill Lockyer1999 – 2007Daniel E. Lungren1991 – 199929 more rows

Who was the first attorney general under Trump?

Jeff SessionsPersonal detailsBornJefferson Beauregard Sessions III December 24, 1946 Selma, Alabama, U.S.Political partyRepublicanSpouse(s)Mary Blackshear ​ ( m. 1969)​33 more rows

Are U.S. Attorneys appointed for life?

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. A U.S. attorney continues in office, beyond the appointed term, until a successor is appointed and qualified.

Who has been appointed as the US Attorney General?

Hence, they must have been a judge of some high court for five years or an advocate of some high court for ten years, or an eminent jurist in the opinion of the President. The 15th and current Attorney General is K. K. Venugopal. He was reappointed by President Ram Nath Kovind in 2020.

Who can remove the president from office?

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

What does impeaching someone mean?

Legal Definition of impeach 1 : to charge with a crime or misconduct specifically : to charge (a public official) before a competent tribunal (as the U.S. Senate) with misconduct in office. Note: Impeachment is the first step in removing an officer from office.Feb 11, 2022

How can the US attorney general be removed from office?

The Attorney General is supposed to defend our nation by making sure no one is above the law -- but time and time again, Barr has abused his power to serve our lawless president. That's why Congress has a duty to impeach him and remove him from office.

Does the US attorney general report to the president?

The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all legal matters. ... 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.

How many US attorney generals are there?

In the order of creation, the position of attorney general was the fourth cabinet level position created by Congress, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Attorneys general may be impeached and removed from office by Congress. As of 2013 the office of U.S. Attorney General has been held by eighty two people.

Who was attorney general before Barr?

William BarrPresidentGeorge H. W. BushPreceded byDonald B. AyerSucceeded byGeorge J. Terwilliger IIIUnited States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel30 more rows

Has there ever been a female US Attorney General?

President Bill Clinton nominated Reno on February 11, 1993, and the Senate confirmed her the following month. She was the first woman to serve as Attorney General and the second-longest serving Attorney General in U.S. history, after William Wirt. Reno was born and raised in Miami, Florida.

Who was the last US attorney general?

List of U.S. attorneys generalAttorney GeneralYears of serviceMerrick Garland2021-PresentEric Holder2009-2015Michael B. Mukasey2007-2009Alberto R. Gonzales2005-200782 more rows

Who was the last Attorney General?

California Former Attorneys GeneralMatthew Rodriguez2021 – 2021Kamala D. Harris2010 – 2017Edmund G. Brown, Jr.2007 – 2011Bill Lockyer1999 – 2007Daniel E. Lungren1991 – 199929 more rows

Who is the highest law officer of a state?

Advocate General of the StateAdvocate General of the State is the highest law officer in the state. The Constitution of India (Article 165) has provided for the office of the Advocate General for the states. Also, he corresponds to the Attorney General of India.

Who was the 1980s Attorney General?

It is a go-ahead place....1850 until Present.NamesDates of OfficeJohn K. Van de KampJan. 1983 - Jan. 1991George DeukmejianJan. 1979 - Jan. 1983Evelle J. YoungerJan. 1971 - Jan. 1979Thomas C. LynchSep. 1964 - Jan. 197130 more rows

How long does the US Attorney General serve?

four-yearUnder the state Constitution, the Attorney General is elected to a four-year term in the same statewide election as the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Controller, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Insurance Commissioner.

Can the president fire the Attorney General?

The President of the United States has the authority to appoint U.S. Attorneys, with the consent of the United States Senate, and the President may remove U.S. Attorneys from office. In the event of a vacancy, the United States Attorney General is authorized to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney.

Who was Attorney General under Bush?

Alberto GonzalesOfficial portrait, 200580th United States Attorney GeneralIn office February 3, 2005 – September 17, 2007PresidentGeorge W. Bush31 more rows

Who is William Barr wife?

Christine BarrWilliam Barr / Wife (m. 1973)

Who was the Attorney General under Trump?

Jeff SessionsOfficial portrait, 201784th United States Attorney GeneralIn office February 9, 2017 – November 7, 2018PresidentDonald Trump33 more rows

Who is the DOJ now?

Merrick B. GarlandMeet the Attorney General Attorney General Merrick B. Garland was sworn in as the 86th Attorney General of the United States on March 11, 2021.3 days ago

How many female state attorney generals are there?

Since 1959, there have been 34 states which have appointed or elected women as attorneys-general.

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 resigned from the White House?

Officials who resigned. Alberto Gonzales, United States Attorney General, former White House Counsel. Kyle Sampson, Chief of Staff to the Attorney General. Michael A. Battle, Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys. Michael Elston, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General.

Did Bush and Clinton fire all the prosecutors?

^ "Although Bush and President Bill Clinton each dismissed nearly all U.S. attorneys upon taking office, legal experts and former prosecutors say the firing of a large number of prosecutors in the middle of a term appears to be unprecedented and threatens the independence of prosecutors ." Gonzales: 'Mistakes Were Made' The Washington Post, March 14, 2007

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."

Who can appoint an attorney?

The President of the United States has the authority to appoint U.S. Attorneys, with the consent of the United States Senate, and the President may remove U.S. Attorneys from office. In the event of a vacancy, the United States Attorney General is authorized to appoint an interim U.S. Attorney. Before March 9, 2006, such interim appointments expired after 120 days, if a Presidential appointment had not been approved by the Senate. Vacancies that persisted beyond 120 days were filled through interim appointments made by the Federal District Court for the district of the vacant office.

Who was the DOJ attorney general in 2006?

Attorney General Gonzales, in a confidential memorandum dated March 1, 2006, delegated authority to senior DOJ staff Monica Goodling and Kyle Sampson to hire and dismiss political appointees and some civil service positions.

Was the White House misled by the Department of Justice?

Members of Congress investigating the dismissals found that sworn testimony from Department of Justice officials appeared to be contradicted by internal Department memoranda and e-mail, and that possibly Congress was deliberately misled. The White House role in the dismissals remained unclear despite hours of testimony by Attorney General Gonzales and senior Department of Justice staff in congressional committee hearings.

Resignations and dismissals

President Donald Trump declined to accept the resignations of Dana Boente (left) and Rod Rosenstein (right).

Reactions

Initial media reports described Sessions' move as abrupt and unexpected, but not unprecedented. Slate 's Leon Neyfakh accused media outlets of sensationalizing Sessions' actions, which he said were "nothing particularly unusual or surprising", and noted the mass firings of U.S. attorneys accompanying each presidential transition.

What was Donald Trump famous for?

Before he was the President, Donald Trump was most famous for booting people on TV —a habit that has proved hard to quit.

When did Reagan fire the Air Traffic Controllers?

In 1981 , Ronald Reagan fired 11,400 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization 48 hours after offering them an ultimatum: end their illegal strike or forfeit their jobs. The workers, seeking better pay and working conditions, were banned from federal employment.

Who was the attorney general that fired Richard Nixon?

Amid the Watergate investigation, Richard Nixon asked attorney general Elliot Richardson and his deputy, William Ruckelshaus, to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who months earlier had subpoenaed Nixon’s Oval Office recordings. Both lawyers opted to resign instead. In the wake of what was dubbed the Saturday Night Massacre, the President’s approval rating dropped to 27 percent. Four decades on, the presidential oustings are still the most infamous.

Who replaced Douglas MacArthur?

Biggest Turnaround. On April 11, 1951, Harry S. Truman replaced popular general Douglas MacArthur with General Matthew Ridgway over what Truman called MacArthur’s “rank insubordination” during the Korean War. Enjoying a hero’s welcome back home, MacArthur was invited to speak to a joint session of Congress.

Who did Lincoln fire?

Abraham Lincoln fired General George McClellan, who wrote to his wife: “There never was a truer epithet applied to a certain individual than that of the ‘Gorilla.’ ” For his part, Lincoln said, “If General McClellan does not want to use the Army, I would like to borrow it.” In the 1864 election, McClellan ran against his old boss and lost. Lincoln then gave command of the army to future two-term President Ulysses S. Grant.

Who is Guy Lewis?

Guy Lewis, a former U.S. attorney in Florida who also served as a director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys during the Bush administration, said most dismissals of holdover federal prosecutors create a blowup politically but should be considered a matter of routine presidential prerogative.

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.

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.

What was George Washington's role in the Revolutionary War?

From 1775 to 1783 George Washington served as general and commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. After the war, Washington relinquished his power by resigning his commission. The General retired to his Mount Vernon plantation, but this retirement wasn’t long.

How many presidents served in the military?

The presidency demands inspiring leadership and decisive action. It’s no surprise that of the 26 presidents who served in the military, twelve were generals. Presidents have been lauded and derided for their actions on the battlefield. Some even became national heroes at war’s end.

When did General Pierce join the army?

Pierce joined the army as private in 1846, and – due in part to his connections with President James K. Polk – Pierce was a brigadier general by mid-1847. The new brigadier general commanded over 2,000 troops, despite a blank military record.

Who was the President of the United States in 1976?

Washington was called to the highest office in the land in 1789 with a unanimous electoral vote. In 1976 President Gerald Ford promoted Washington to “General of the Armies of the United States,” out-ranking all past and present officers in the United States Army.

Was Zachary Taylor a soldier?

Zachary Taylor was a career soldier. He was commissioned as an officer in 1808, and after that he fought in nearly every American conflict until he became president. Taylor was a major in the War of 1812, a colonel in the Black Hawk War in 1832, and a brigadier general in the Seminole War from 1836 to 1837. It was his success in the Mexican-American War (1846-48) that made him a national hero and set the stage for his unlikely presidential victory.

What was Andrew Jackson's role in the Revolution?

Andrew Jackson’s fighting days began at a young age. At fourteen he served in the Revolution as a messenger from 1780-81. As the well-known story goes, after being captured by the British, a young Andrew refused to shine the boots of a British officer. For his defiance, the officer slashed Jackson in the face with his sword.

How old was Ulysses S. Grant when he died?

Weeks after completing his memoirs, Ulysses S. Grant died on July 23, 1885 at the age of sixty-three.