pressidemts who fired attorney general

by Kody Kassulke 10 min read

Why were attorneys fired from the Department of Justice?

Aug 27, 2009 · On April 3 he was fired by McGrath. Truman promptly fired McGrath. Richard Rovere memorably wrote up the episode in the New Yorker. McGrath, fired at age 48, never held public office again; he lost...

Why did Attorney General Gonzales fire eight prosecutors?

Jan 31, 2017 · WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she ordered Justice Dept. lawyers to stop defending Mr. Trump’s executive order banning new arrivals to the U.S....

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

Jul 21, 2021 · Malawi Attorney General (AG), Chikosa Silungwe has been fired. Courtesy photo. Lilongwe, Malawi | Xinhua | Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has fired the country’s Attorney General (AG), Chikosa Silungwe, local media reported Wednesday. No reason has been given for the development but the country’s online media outlet, the Nation Publications Limited (NPL) …

Why did the Justice Department Fire 7 attorneys at the same time?

Jan 30, 2017 · Ms. Yates’s order was a remarkable rebuke by a government official to a sitting president, and it recalled the so-called Saturday Night Massacre in 1973, when President Richard M. Nixon fired his...

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Can the attorney general be fired by the president?

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 the U.S. 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.

Has a woman ever been U.S. Attorney General?

Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general from 1993 to 2001, the second-longest serving in that position, after William Wirt. A member of the Democratic Party, Reno was the first woman to hold the post.

Does the U.S. Attorney General report to the president?

The United States attorney general (AG) leads the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief lawyer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all legal matters.

How is attorney general 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 do you get rid of the U.S. attorney general?

Technically, no sitting President has ever fired an Attorney General they nominated to office with Senate approval. But President Trump clearly has the power to remove Sessions, based on the Constitution and past legal decisions. And most importantly, he can ask for his resignation.Jul 26, 2017

Who was the last US attorney general?

List of U.S. attorneys generalAttorney GeneralYears of serviceMerrick Garland2021-PresentLoretta Lynch2015-2017Eric Holder2009-2015Michael B. Mukasey2007-200982 more rows

Who was the first African American female United States Attorney General?

Loretta LynchOfficial portrait, 201583rd United States Attorney GeneralIn office April 27, 2015 – January 20, 2017PresidentBarack Obama20 more rows

Is Janet Reno alive?

November 7, 2016Janet Reno / Date of death

Who is the head of the Department of Justice 2021?

Attorney General 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, 2021.4 days ago

What power does the attorney general have?

The NSW Attorney General is the legal advisor to the Government of NSW. The Attorney General is responsible for representing the State and may act on its behalf in all legal proceedings in which the State is a party. preserves civil liberties.

Who is the head of the Department of Justice 2020?

Merrick GarlandThe department is headed by the U.S. Attorney General, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The current attorney general is Merrick Garland, who was sworn on March 11, 2021.

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."

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 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.

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".

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 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.

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.

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.

Why was Sally Yates fired?

President Donald Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates on Monday night after she directed Justice Department lawyers not to defend his executive order on immigration.

Who is Alex Johnson?

attorney in Alexandria, Virginia, the following year. Obama appointed him to the job full-time in 2015. Alex Johnson. Alex Johnson is a reporter and editor for NBC News based in Los Angeles. Hallie Jackson contributed.

Who is Dana Boente?

Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama — and named Dana Boente, 63, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to serve in the meantime.

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Overview

Fallout

By April 2007, there was some speculation that the dismissal of the US attorneys might affect cases of public corruption and voter fraud. According to the National Law Journal,
Just the appearance of political influence in cases related to those firings, combined with the recent, unusual reversal of a federal public corruption convi…

Issues in brief

By tradition, all U.S. Attorneys are asked to resign at the start of a new administration. The new President may elect to keep or remove any U.S. Attorney. They are traditionally replaced collectively only at the start of a new White House administration. U.S. Attorneys hold a political office, in which the President nominates candidates to office and the Senate confirms, and consequently, they serve at the pleasure of the President. When a new President is from a differ…

Replacement of the U.S. Attorneys

On January 6, 2005, Colin Newman, an assistant in the White House counsels office, wrote to David Leitch stating, "Karl Rovestopped by to ask you (roughly quoting) 'how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them or selectively replace them, etc.'". The email was then forwarded to Kyle …

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…

Aftermath

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 …

See also

• 2017 dismissal of U.S. attorneys
• List of federal political scandals in the United States
• Don Siegelman
• Cyril Wecht

Notes

1. ^ "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
2. ^ Bowermaster, David (2007-05-09). "Charges may result from firings, say two former U.S. attorneys". The Seattle Times. …