who can fire state attorney general?

Can a president fire an attorney general?

Jun 21, 2020 · It concluded that the president — but not the attorney general — could fire such an official. In a memorandum opinion, John M. Harmon, …

Who has the authority to fire political appointees at the DOJ?

Aug 27, 2009 · The president can fire the attorney general. O bama administration spokesmen are portraying the president as unable to overrule Attorney …

What is an attorneys general and what do they do?

Attorneys general are the top legal officers of their state or territory. They advise and represent their legislature and state agencies and act as the “People’s Lawyer” for the citizens. Most are elected, though a few are appointed by the governor. Select your state to connect to your state attorney general's website.

Can governors tell their attorneys general what to do?

Jul 29, 2017 · And in March 2017, President Trump issued an executive order specifying three additional officials to serve as acting attorney general in the event that the DOJ succession order is exhausted: the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, currently Dana J. Boente; the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, currently John Stuart Bruce; …

Who can fire the attorney general of the United States?

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.

How is the US Attorney General elected?

The 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.

Who does the Attorney General report to in Australia?

Prime MinisterUnder the Constitution, they are appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister, and serve at the Governor-General's pleasure....Attorney-General of AustraliaReports toPrime MinisterSeatCanberra, ACTNominatorPrime MinisterAppointerGovernor-General on the advice of the prime minister12 more rows

How many attorney generals are there in the US?

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 is the current United States 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

What does an attorney general do in Australia?

The Attorney-General of Australia is our nation's First Law Officer. The primary responsibility of this role is to protect the rule of law and the integrity of the Courts. In practice, the Attorney- General delegates many administrative functions of their role to others.Apr 11, 2021

Who is the current NSW Attorney General?

The current attorney general, since 30 January 2017, is Mark Speakman, SC.

What are Critical Legal Services NSW?

What are critical legal services? Recently, the NSW Government amended the COVID-19 rules to add “critical legal services” to the list of authorised activities that enable people who live in the relevant Local Government Areas of concern to leave that LGA for work, if the business is allowed to be open.

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.

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.

What is the DOJ section 508?

Section 508 directly addresses DOJ succession and provides that “ [i]n case of a vacancy in the office of Attorney General, . . . , the Deputy Attorney General may exercise all the duties of that office.” Consequently, if Sessions is fired or resigns, under this provision Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would assume the attorney general’s authorities.

Will Jeff Sessions resign?

Although Attorney General Jeff Sessions has reportedly expressed no inclination to resign, President Donald Trump’s evident and quite public “ disappointment ” over Sessions’s ( clearly correct) decision to recuse himself from investigations relating to the 2016 presidential campaign raises the prospect of a potential vacancy in the office of the attorney general. Such a vacancy would render arcane Department of Justice succession rules tremendously consequential, as the person who would act to fill that vacancy could assume the mantle of supervising Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation until a new attorney general is confirmed.

What is the role of the Attorney General?

The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the federal district, or of any of the territories is the chief legal advisor to the state government and the state's chief law enforcement officer. In some states, the attorney general serves as the head of a state department of justice, with responsibilities similar to those of the United States Department of Justice .

How long does an attorney general serve?

Elected attorneys general serve a four-year term, except in Vermont, where the term is two years. Seven states do not popularly elect an attorney general. In Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Wyoming, the attorney general is a gubernatorial appointee. The attorney general in Tennessee is appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court ...

How many terms can an attorney general serve in Puerto Rico?

Many states have passed term limits limiting the selection to 2 consecutive terms (9 states); 2 terms maximum (4 states), but 33 states still have no term limits.

Why is the Maine governor suing the attorney general?

In Maine, the state’s governor is suing its attorney general for refusing to represent him in federal lawsuits. In Louisiana, the state attorney general has sued the governor over a four-million-dollar funding dispute.

Did the Governor's petition satisfy the grand jury?

The Court held that the Governor’s petition did not satisfy any of the exceptions governing the release of grand jury materials provided by Rhode Island law.

Do state governors and attorneys general clash?

When State Governors and Attorneys General Clash. State governors and attorneys general typically find themselves on the same side of the law. Nonetheless, an overwhelming majority of states directly elect their attorneys general. This framework creates a natural opportunity for conflicts to erupt, particularly when officials act to protect ...

Will the governor appeal the Rhode Island case?

The Governor has not stated whether she will appeal the decision. The Rhode Island General Assembly is in any event poised to consider legislation that would deem any record created by the State Police or Attorney General’s Office related to the investigation a public record.

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.

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 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.

What is the time of war?

The Manual for Courts-Martial (itself authorized by law) defines “time of war” in its Rules for Court-Martial (RCM) Rule 103 (19) to mean: “a period of war declared by Congress or the factual determination by the President that the existence of hostilities warrants a finding that a ‘time of war’ exists… .”.

When did the President have the power to dismiss military officers?

A little history: up until the end of the Civil War, the President exercised virtually unconstrained power to dismiss military officers. However, in 1865 Congress passed legislation which purports to limit that power. That legislation was essentially the same as that found today codified in 10 USC § 1161 (a).

Is a dismissal a punitive discharge?

The substitution of an administrative discharge for a “dismissal” is significant because a dismissal is a punitive discharge for an officer (it’s the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge for an enlisted person). A dismissal would extinguish almost all veterans’ benefits, as well as rights to military retirement pay.

Can a three star general be dismissed?

In any event, if an officer (especially one who had been a three or four-star general) is relieved from his or her position and reverts to the lower rank of major general and still refuses to request retirement, the President may be able to dismiss the officer from the armed forces entirely.

Is the time of war a statute?

Although the phrase “time of war” is used in many U.S. statutes, there is no universally accepted definition of precisely what it means. Some court decisions indicate it means war when declared by Congress, and some statutes do use the phrase the “time of war declared by Congress .” (Italics added.)

Why do AGs have more independence?

That is, AGs have more independence if they’re bringing a lawsuit on behalf of the state—suing the federal government over health care reform, say—than if they’re defending it. That’s because in defensive lawsuits, the attorney general coordinates with whichever state body is getting sued, be it the department of transportation or ...

Which states have sued the federal government for health care reform?

In at least two states— Michigan and Washington —Democratic governors have challenged their own AGs on the issue.

Do AGs have freedom?

Those AGs are still considered independent but in practice have less freedom to stray from the governor’s agenda. They also have little reason to do so, since they’re usually from the same political party as the governor and owe their positions to him.

Who was the governor of Georgia who sued the governor?

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, sued his own Democratic attorney general, Thurbert Baker, that same year when Baker refused to drop a redistricting suit filed under the previous governor, a Democrat.

Can the governor influence the attorney general?

Governors can try to influence them informally—and in most cases, their interests line up—but they have no formal power over the AGs.