United States Attorney General

United States Attorney General;
	; Official Seal; Department of Justice
	Incumbent; Eric Holder; since February 3, 2009
Formation	September 26, 1789
Succession	Seventh
Website	www.usdoj.gov

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The United States Attorney General is the head of the United States Department of Justice (see 28 U.S.C. § 503) concerned with legal affairs and is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States government. The Attorney General is considered to be the chief lawyer of the U.S. government. The Attorney General serves as a member of the President's Cabinet, but is the only cabinet department head who is not given the title Secretary, besides the now independent Postmaster General.

The Attorney General is nominated by the President of the United States and takes office after confirmation by the United States Senate. He or she serves at the pleasure of the President and can be removed by the President at any time; the Attorney General is also subject to impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial in the Senate for "treason, bribery, and other high crimes and misdemeanors."

The office of Attorney General was established by Congress by the Judiciary Act of 1789. 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."^[1] Only in 1870 was the Department of Justice established to support the Attorney General in the discharge of his responsibilities.

As of February 3, 2009, the current Attorney General is Eric Holder.^[2] He was confirmed on February 2.^[3] Holder is the 82^nd Attorney General of the United States and the first African-American to hold the position.

[edit] List of Attorneys General

Denotes service as acting Attorneys General prior to appointment or after resignation

#	Name	State of Residence	Term of Office		President(s) served under
1	Edmund Randolph	Virginia	September 26, 1789	January 26, 1794	George Washington
2	William Bradford	Pennsylvania	January 27, 1794	August 23, 1795	George Washington
3	Charles Lee	Virginia	December 10, 1795	February 19, 1801	George Washington, John Adams
4	Levi Lincoln, Sr.	Massachusetts	March 5, 1801	March 2, 1805	Thomas Jefferson
5	John Breckinridge	Kentucky	August 7, 1805	December 14, 1806	Thomas Jefferson
6	Caesar A. Rodney	Delaware	January 20, 1807	December 10, 1811	Thomas Jefferson, James Madison
7	William Pinkney	Maryland	December 11, 1811	February 9, 1814	James Madison
8	Richard Rush	Pennsylvania	February 10, 1814	November 12, 1817	James Madison
9	William Wirt	Virginia	November 13, 1817	March 4, 1829	James Monroe, John Quincy Adams
10	John M. Berrien	Georgia	March 9, 1829	July 19, 1831	Andrew Jackson
11	Roger B. Taney	Maryland	July 20, 1831	November 14, 1833	Andrew Jackson
12	Benjamin Franklin Butler	New York	November 15, 1833	July 4, 1838	Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren
13	Felix Grundy	Tennessee	July 5, 1838	January 10, 1840	Martin Van Buren
14	Henry D. Gilpin	Pennsylvania	January 11, 1840	March 4, 1841	Martin Van Buren
15	John J. Crittenden	Kentucky	March 5, 1841	September 12, 1841	William Harrison, John Tyler
16	Hugh Swinton Legaré	South Carolina	September 13, 1841	June 30, 1843	John Tyler
17	John Nelson	Maryland	July 1, 1843	March 4, 1845	John Tyler
18	John Y. Mason	Virginia	March 5, 1845	October 16, 1846	James Polk
19	Nathan Clifford	Maine	October 17, 1846	March 17, 1848
20	Isaac Toucey	Connecticut	June 21, 1848	March 4, 1849
21	Reverdy Johnson	Maryland	March 8, 1849	July 21, 1850	Zachary Taylor
22	John J. Crittenden	Kentucky	July 22, 1850	March 4, 1853	Millard Fillmore
23	Caleb Cushing	Massachusetts	March 7, 1853	March 4, 1857	Franklin Pierce
24	Jeremiah S. Black	Pennsylvania	March 6, 1857	December 16, 1860	James Buchanan
25	Edwin M. Stanton	Ohio	December 20, 1860	March 4, 1861	James Buchanan
26	Edward Bates	Missouri	March 5, 1861	November 24, 1864	Abraham Lincoln
27	James Speed	Kentucky	December 2, 1864	July 22, 1866	Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson
28	Henry Stanberry	Ohio	July 23, 1866	July 16, 1868	Andrew Johnson
29	William M. Evarts	New York	July 17, 1868	March 4, 1869	Andrew Johnson
30	Ebenezer R. Hoar	Massachusetts	March 5, 1869	November 22, 1870	Ulysses Grant
31	Amos T. Akerman	Georgia	November 23, 1870	December 13, 1871
32	George Henry Williams	Oregon	December 14, 1871	April 25, 1875
33	Edwards Pierrepont	New York	April 26, 1875	May 21, 1876
34	Alphonso Taft	Ohio	May 22, 1876	March 4, 1877
35	Charles Devens	Massachusetts	March 12, 1877	March 4, 1881	Rutherford Hayes
36	Wayne MacVeagh	Pennsylvania	March 5, 1881	December 15, 1881	James Garfield, Chester Arthur
37	Benjamin H. Brewster	Pennsylvania	December 16, 1881	March 4, 1885	Chester Arthur
38	Augustus H. Garland	Arkansas	March 6, 1885	March 4, 1889	Grover Cleveland
39	William Miller	Indiana	March 7, 1889	March 4, 1893	Benjamin Harrison
40	Richard Olney	Massachusetts	March 6, 1893	April 7, 1895	Grover Cleveland
41	Judson Harmon	Ohio	April 8, 1895	March 4, 1897	Grover Cleveland
42	Joseph McKenna	California	March 5, 1897	January 25, 1898	William McKinley
43	John W. Griggs	New Jersey	January 25, 1898	March 29, 1901	William McKinley
44	Philander C. Knox	Pennsylvania	April 5, 1901	June 30, 1904	William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt
45	William H. Moody	Massachusetts	July 1, 1904	December 17, 1906	Theodore Roosevelt
46	Charles J. Bonaparte	Maryland	December 17, 1906	March 4, 1909	Theodore Roosevelt
47	George W. Wickersham	New York	March 4, 1909	March 4, 1913	William Taft
48	James C. McReynolds	New York	March 5, 1913	August 29, 1914	Woodrow Wilson
49	Thomas Watt Gregory	Texas	August 29, 1914	March 4, 1919
50	Alexander Mitchell Palmer	Pennsylvania	March 5, 1919	March 4, 1921
51	Harry M. Daugherty	Ohio	March 4, 1921	April 6, 1924	Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge
52	Harlan F. Stone	New York	April 7, 1924	March 1, 1925	Calvin Coolidge
53	John G. Sargent	Vermont	March 7, 1925	March 4, 1929	Calvin Coolidge
54	William D. Mitchell	Minnesota	March 4, 1929	March 4, 1933	Herbert Hoover
55	Homer Stille Cummings	Connecticut	March 4, 1933	January 1, 1939	Franklin Roosevelt
56	Frank Murphy	Michigan	January 2, 1939	January 18, 1940
57	Robert H. Jackson	New York	January 18, 1940	August 25, 1941
58	Francis Biddle	Pennsylvania	August 26, 1941	June 26, 1945	Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman
59	Tom C. Clark	Texas	June 27, 1945	July 26, 1949	Harry Truman
60	J. Howard McGrath	Rhode Island	July 27, 1949	April 3, 1952
61	James P. McGranery	Pennsylvania	April 4, 1952	January 20, 1953
62	Herbert Brownell, Jr.	New York	January 21, 1953	October 23, 1957	Dwight Eisenhower
63	William P. Rogers	New York	October 23, 1957	January 20, 1961	Dwight Eisenhower
64	Robert F. Kennedy	Massachusetts, New York	January 20, 1961	September 3, 1964	John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson
65	Nicholas Katzenbach	Illinois	September 4, 1964 (as acting AG)	January 28, 1965 (as acting AG)	Lyndon Johnson
65	Nicholas Katzenbach	Illinois	January 28, 1965	November 28, 1966
66	Ramsey Clark	Texas	November 28, 1966 (as acting AG)	March 10, 1967 (as acting AG)
66	Ramsey Clark	Texas	March 10, 1967	January 20, 1969
67	John N. Mitchell	New York	January 20, 1969	February 15, 1972	Richard Nixon
68	Richard Kleindienst	Arizona	February 15, 1972	May 25, 1973
69	Elliot Richardson	Massachusetts	May 25, 1973	October 20, 1973
70	William B. Saxbe	Ohio	December 17, 1973	January 14, 1975	Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford
71	Edward H. Levi	Illinois	January 14, 1975	January 20, 1977	Gerald Ford
72	Griffin Bell	Georgia	January 26, 1977	August 16, 1979	Jimmy Carter
73	Benjamin Civiletti	Maryland	August 16, 1979	January 19, 1981	Jimmy Carter
74	William French Smith	California	January 23, 1981	February 25, 1985	Ronald Reagan
75	Edwin Meese	California	February 25, 1985	August 12, 1988	Ronald Reagan
76	Dick Thornburgh	Pennsylvania	August 12, 1988	August 15, 1991	Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush
77	William Barr	New York	August 16, 1991	January 20, 1993	George H. W. Bush
78	Janet Reno	Florida	March 12, 1993	January 20, 2001	Bill Clinton
79	John Ashcroft	Missouri	February 2, 2001	February 3, 2005	George W. Bush
80	Alberto Gonzales	Texas	February 3, 2005	September 17, 2007
81	Michael Mukasey	New York	November 9, 2007	January 20, 2009
82	Eric Holder	Washington, D.C.	February 3, 2009	present	Barack Obama

[edit] Living Former Attorneys General

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Judiciary Act of 1789, section 35.
^ Staff (n.d.). "USDOJ: Office of the Attorney General". US Department of Justice. http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/. Retrieved 2009-02-03. "Eric H. Holder Jr. was sworn in as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States on February 3, 2009 by Vice-President Joe Biden. President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Mr. Holder on December 1, 2008."
^ Margasak, Larry (February 2, 2009). "Senate confirms Holder as first black AG". Associated Press. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/holder_confirmation. Retrieved February 2, 2009.

[edit] External links

The Attorneys General of the United States

United States presidential line of succession
Preceded by Secretary of Defense	7th in line	Succeeded by Secretary of the Interior

[0] Judiciary Act of 1789, section 35.

[holderbio-1] Staff (n.d.). "USDOJ: Office of the Attorney General". US Department of Justice. http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/. Retrieved 2009-02-03. "Eric H. Holder Jr. was sworn in as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States on February 3, 2009 by Vice-President Joe Biden. President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Mr. Holder on December 1, 2008."

[AP-2Feb09-2] Margasak, Larry (February 2, 2009). "Senate confirms Holder as first black AG". Associated Press. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/holder_confirmation. Retrieved February 2, 2009.

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United States Attorney General

Contents

[edit] List of Attorneys General

[edit] Living Former Attorneys General

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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United States Attorney General
Official Seal Department of Justice
Incumbent Eric Holder since February 3, 2009
Formation	September 26, 1789
Succession	Seventh
Website	www.usdoj.gov