When we say “general” in “attorney general,” “surgeon general,” and “postmater general,” it is not meant as a rank as in the military sense, and it is not even a noun. It is an adjective meaning “chief or principal.” It is the same sense as in “general manger.” The confusion comes from the adjective following the noun.
The Attorney “General” is addressed as General as a courtesy, much like cabinet secretaries are generally called “Secretary” and U.S Senators are called “Senator” long after they have left office. Hillary Clinton is still addressed as “Secretary Clinton.” Quora User , works at Rochester, NY
Mar 04, 2017 · In the phrase attorney general, attorney is the main part, and the word general is descriptive—it tells us what kind of attorney we have to deal with. It’s the same rule we follow for similar phrases such as sister-in-law and editor in chief. You make the main noun plural: I have two sisters-in-law. The Atlantic has had 14 editors in chief.
Jul 13, 2018 · Keith G Langer. View Profile Website. Licensing Attorney in Wrentham, MA. 4.0555555555556 stars. 18 reviews. Licensed for 27 years. AVVO RATING 10. 28731EB2-58E3-4EAD-9AF7-03A80A94D0EF. 11-year Top Contributor.
Office | Name | Date assumed office |
---|---|---|
Attorney General of California | Rob Bonta | April 23, 2021 |
Attorney General of Colorado | Phil Weiser | January 8, 2019 |
Attorney General of Connecticut | William Tong | January 9, 2019 |
Attorney General of Delaware | Kathy Jennings | January 1, 2019 |
Attorney General | Years of service |
---|---|
Merrick Garland | 2021-Present |
Loretta Lynch | 2015-2017 |
Eric Holder | 2009-2015 |
Michael B. Mukasey | 2007-2009 |
United States Attorney General | |
---|---|
Incumbent Merrick Garland since March 11, 2021 | |
United States Department of Justice | |
Style | Mr. Attorney General (informal) The Honorable (formal) |
Member of | Cabinet National Security Council |
Barbara Underwood (Acting) | 2018 |
---|---|
Eric Schneiderman | 2011 – 2018 |
Andrew M. Cuomo | 2007 – 2010 |
Eliot Spitzer | 1999 – 2006 |
Dennis Vacco | 1995 – 1998 |
The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United Stateson all legal matters. The attorney general is a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States.
The original duties of this officer were "to prosecute and conduct all suits in the Supreme Court in which the United States shall be concerned, and to give his advice and opinion upon questions of law when required by the president of the United States, or when requested by the heads of any of the departments". Some of these duties have since been transferred to the United States solicitor general and the White House counsel .
Attorney General is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule, thus earning a salary of US$ 221,400, as of January 2021.
Presidential transition[edit] It is the practice for the attorney general, along with the other Cabinet secretaries and high-level political appointees of the President, to tender a resignation with effect on the Inauguration Day(January 20) of a new president.
Gerson was fourth in the line of succession at the Justice Department, but other senior DOJ officials had already resigned.[14] Janet Reno, President Clinton's nominee for attorney general, was confirmed on March 12,[15]and he resigned the same day.
For example, upon the inauguration of President Donald Trump on January 20, 2017, then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch left her position, so then-Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who had also tendered her resignation, was asked to stay on to serve as the acting attorney general until the confirmation of the new attorney general Jeff Sessions, who had been nominated for the office in November 2016 by then- President-elect Donald Trump.
The Department of Justice was established in 1870 to support the attorneys general in the discharge of their responsibilities.
So it's a bit like adding a comma: Attorneys, General.
Like a lieutenant general or a brigadier general, a major general is a class of general, so it's general that takes the plural. "The four will be commissioned as Army major generals for an approximate two-year term while serving intermittently in this role.". - Oxford Online.
A regular compound noun - "military funeral," for instance - has the head at the end. So we pluralize it as "military funerals," since we're counting funerals and not militaries. More than one "company car" is "company cars," "dog trainer" becomes "dog trainers" and so on. The thing we're counting is at the end. "Army general" is another example of this.
It's a compound noun where the second word is basically an adjective that describes the preceding noun, or "head.". In this case, "general" describes "attorney.". Ah, the joy of head-first compound nouns. A regular compound noun - "military funeral," for instance - has the head at the end.
Actually, it's Majors General. It's the same as attorneys general. Both are pluralized nouns (attorneys/majors) with adjectives (major/general).
One way to see it is that a sergeant-major is a type or grade of sergeant, whereas lieutenant-general is a type of grade of general. The main nouns are sergeant and general respectively, so they take the plural, not the classifying word. Warsaw Will Nov-11-2011. 4 votes Permalink Report Abuse.
However - right now 'attorney general' is a noun in and of itself. Therefore attorney generals is fine - and we don't need permission to use it - we can just use it. Of course you can use it. However the unfortunate fact is that common usage does not always mean correct usage.
In the phrase attorney general , attorney is the main part, and the word general is descriptive—it tells us what kind of attorney we have to deal with.
The US has one attorney general, but we have many state attorneys general.
Although I couldn't find an answer in a style book, my gut instinct is that it would be deputy attorneys general because attorney is still the main noun and deputy is a modifier. When I can't find an answer in a style book, sometimes I search major newspaper websites to see what they use, and it looks like my instincts are right: the New York Times highly favors deputy attorneys general.
It is odd that the AG's office would be calling, unless it was in response to your contacting it first. If that were the case, it would presumably have the current information, which you provided.
It may be related to employment or business that you did with a company they are investigating that they either want information about, or there was a settlement and they are trying to find you as a result. The AG's office does not prosecute individuals.
An attorney generalis an attorney with general dutiesas opposed to an attorney with some limited scope of duties. The title has the same structure as inspector general, solicitor general, postmaster general, auditor general, consul generaland surgeon general.
Note: The Attorney General of the United States is not addressed as ‘General (Name)’in written correspondence or oral conversation outside the courtroom. See the Q&A that follows – “Is an Attorney General Addressed as ‘General’?”– for more on this.