Although the vast majority of the states — to be exact, 43 states out of 50 — divide the power of the executive branch by making the Attorney General an elected position, that is not the only way to do it. Five states — Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Wyoming — have AGs appointed by the governor.
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. There are a total of 93 United States Attorneys appointed throughout the United States and its territories, each responsible for a specific judicial district.
The powers and duties of the O.C.C./OAG are similar to those of the Attorneys General of the several states, and the change was literally nothing more than the name.
The United States Attorney is responsible for coordinating multi-agency investigations which involve federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The United States Attorney is responsible for a wide variety of prosecutions consistent with the priorities set by the Attorney General...
The problem is that the perception of just what is the "public interest" may be colored by the partisan political views of the attorney general - or of other executive branch officials, for that matter. A second problem is that an elected attorney general, particularly one of another party, weakens the executive branch of government.
Under the Utah Constitution, the attorney general is the legal counsel for the governor and all state agencies. At the same time, he is an elected political figure who may not even belong to the same party as the governor.In the past 20 years or so, more often than not, the attorney general and governor have been from different political parties.
For example, some state agencies have taken to hiring their own lawyers to give unofficial advice, even though the attorney general by law is supposed to be the only legal counsel for the state. In any case, if legal advice is to be trusted and acted upon, it must be clear of the slightest taint of political partisanship.
The U.S. attorney general is appointed by – and answerable to – a partisan president. Consequently, attorneys general are often appointed as a result of loyalty. Barr is not the first attorney general to be viewed as a presidential loyalist; Eric Holder, for instance, publicly proclaimed he was President Barack Obama’s “ wingman .”
In the states, it is unusual for the head of the executive branch – that is, the governor – to have the power to hire and fire the attorney general. Only five states grant the governor the power to appoint the state attorney general: Alaska, Hawaii, New Jersey, New Hampshire and Wyoming.
Many of the founders envisioned that the U.S. attorney general would be appointed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
If President Bill Clinton had Eric Holder for attorney general in 1998, there would never have been an impeachment for committing perjury. Instead, America was treated to a fair investigation. Clinton had appointed a straight-laced attorney general named Janet Reno, probably the least political-minded AG in history.
U.S. attorney generals should be elected, not appointed. That would instill more independence for the nation’s top law enforcer without being politically beholden to a chief executive. If there is any office that necessitates neutrality, it is the attorney general.
As Tollen noted, “Forty-eight of our state governors cannot fire their AG at will, so they can’t avoid justice through control of state prosecutors.” Forty-three states elect their attorney generals.
The Office of the Attorney General was established in 1789 as part of The Judiciary Act of 1789 . The Act, among other things, established the makeup of the Supreme Court and its exclusive jurisdiction and also the lower court structure. One of the powers the Act gave to the Supreme Court, writs of mandamus, was the subject of the famous Supreme Court case, Marbury v. Madison. The Judiciary Act of 1789 also established the Office of the Attorney General.
Attorneys working at the direction of the United States Attorney prosecute criminal cases brought by the United States against individuals and organizations who violate criminal laws enacted by the United States Congress.
The Western District of Texas is one of four federal judicial districts in Texas, and one of the largest in the country. Ashley C. Hoff is the United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas and is the chief federal law enforcement officer of the United States within this district.
Although the vast majority of the states — to be exact, 43 states out of 50 — divide the power of the executive branch by making the Attorney General an elected position, that is not the only way to do it. Five states — Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Wyoming — have AGs appointed by the governor.
The change came about in 2004 when then-Mayor Anthony Williams signed an order renaming the “Office of the Corporation Counsel for the District of Columbia” to “the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.”. The powers and duties of the O.C.C./OAG are similar to those of the Attorneys General of the several states, ...
Five states — Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Wyoming — have AGs appointed by the governor. Maine and Tennessee use different methods altogether — in Maine, the Attorney General is selected by secret ballot of the legislature and in Tennessee, the state AG is appointed by the state Supreme Court.