United States Attorney General

The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the United States on all legal matters. The attorney general is also a statutory member of the Cabinet of the United States and a member of the United States National Security Council. Additionally, the attorney general is seventh in the presidential line of succession.

United States Attorney General
Seal of the Department of Justice
Flag of the United States Attorney General
Incumbent Pam Bondi since February 5, 2025
United States Department of Justice
Style	Madam Attorney General (informal) The Honorable (formal)
Member of	Cabinet National Security Council Homeland Security Council
Reports to	President
Seat	Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building Washington, D.C.
Appointer	President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	28 U.S.C. § 503
Formation	September 26, 1789
First holder	Edmund Randolph
Succession	Seventh[1]
Deputy	Deputy Attorney General
Salary	Executive Schedule, Level I[2]
Website	www.justice.gov/ag

Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution, the officeholder is nominated by the president of the United States, and, following a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, will take office if confirmed by the majority of the full United States Senate. The attorney general is supported by the Office of the Attorney General, which includes executive staff and several deputy attorneys general.

The attorney general is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule and thus earns the salary prescribed for that level: $250,600, as of January 2025.

Name

The title, "Attorney General" is an example of a noun (attorney) followed by a postpositive adjective (general).^[3] "General" is a description of the type of attorney, not a title or rank in itself (as it would be in the military).^[3] Even though the attorney general (and the similarly titled solicitor general) is occasionally referred to as "General" or "General [last name]" by senior government officials, this is considered incorrect in standard American English usage.^[3][4] For the same reason, the correct American English plural form is "attorneys general" rather than "attorney generals".^[4]

History

See also: United States Department of Justice § History

Seal of the Department of Justice

Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 which, among other things, established the Office of the Attorney General. 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".^[5] Some of these duties have since been transferred to the United States solicitor general and the White House counsel.

The Department of Justice was established in 1870 to support the attorneys general in the discharge of their responsibilities.

The secretary of state, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of defense, and the attorney general are regarded as the four most important Cabinet officials in the United States because of the size and importance of their respective departments.^[6]

Attorney General is a Level I position in the Executive Schedule,^[2] thus earning a salary of US$221,400, as of January 2021.^[7]

Presidential transition

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. The deputy attorney general is also expected to tender a resignation, but is commonly requested to stay on and act as the attorney general pending the confirmation by the Senate of the new attorney general.

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.^[8][a]

List of attorneys general

Parties

  Federalist (4)   Democratic-Republican (5)   Democratic (34)   Whig (4)   Republican (41)

Status

  Denotes service as acting attorneys general before appointment or after resignation

No.	Portrait	Name	State of residence	Took office	Left office	President(s)
1		Edmund Randolph	Virginia	September 26, 1789	January 26, 1794		George Washington (1789–1797)
2		William Bradford	Pennsylvania	January 27, 1794	August 23, 1795
3		Charles Lee	Virginia	December 10, 1795	February 19, 1801
							John Adams (1797–1801)
4		Levi Lincoln Sr.	Massachusetts	March 5, 1801	March 2, 1805		Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)
5		John Breckinridge	Kentucky	August 7, 1805	December 14, 1806
6		Caesar Augustus Rodney	Delaware	January 20, 1807	December 10, 1811
							James Madison (1809–1817)
7		William Pinkney	Maryland	December 11, 1811	February 9, 1814
8		Richard Rush	Pennsylvania	February 10, 1814	November 12, 1817
9		William Wirt	Virginia	November 13, 1817	March 4, 1829		James Monroe (1817–1825)
							John Quincy Adams (1825–1829)
10		John Macpherson Berrien	Georgia	March 9, 1829	July 19, 1831		Andrew Jackson (1829–1837)
11		Roger B. Taney	Maryland	July 20, 1831	November 14, 1833
12		Benjamin Franklin Butler	New York	November 15, 1833	July 4, 1838
							Martin Van Buren (1837–1841)
13		Felix Grundy	Tennessee	July 5, 1838	January 10, 1840
14		Henry D. Gilpin	Pennsylvania	January 11, 1840	March 4, 1841
15		John J. Crittenden 1st term	Kentucky	March 5, 1841	September 12, 1841		William Henry Harrison (1841)
							John Tyler (1841–1845)
16		Hugh S. Legaré	South Carolina	September 13, 1841	June 20, 1843
17		John Nelson	Maryland	July 1, 1843	March 4, 1845
18		John Y. Mason	Virginia	March 5, 1845	October 16, 1846		James K. Polk (1845–1849)
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 (1849–1850)
22		John J. Crittenden 2nd term	Kentucky	July 22, 1850	March 4, 1853		Millard Fillmore (1850–1853)
23		Caleb Cushing	Massachusetts	March 7, 1853	March 4, 1857		Franklin Pierce (1853–1857)
24		Jeremiah S. Black	Pennsylvania	March 6, 1857	December 16, 1860		James Buchanan (1857–1861)
25		Edwin Stanton	Pennsylvania	December 20, 1860	March 4, 1861
26		Edward Bates	Missouri	March 5, 1861	November 24, 1864		Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)
27		James Speed	Kentucky	December 2, 1864	July 22, 1866
							Andrew Johnson (1865–1869)
28		Henry Stanbery	Ohio	July 23, 1866	July 16, 1868
29		William M. Evarts	New York	July 17, 1868	March 4, 1869
30		Ebenezer R. Hoar	Massachusetts	March 5, 1869	November 22, 1870		Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877)
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 B. Hayes (1877–1881)
36		Wayne MacVeagh	Pennsylvania	March 5, 1881	December 15, 1881		James A. Garfield (1881)
							Chester A. Arthur (1881–1885)
37		Benjamin H. Brewster	Pennsylvania	December 16, 1881	March 4, 1885
38		Augustus Garland	Arkansas	March 6, 1885	March 4, 1889		Grover Cleveland (1885–1889)
39		William H. H. Miller	Indiana	March 7, 1889	March 4, 1893		Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893)
40		Richard Olney	Massachusetts	March 6, 1893	April 7, 1895		Grover Cleveland (1893–1897)
41		Judson Harmon	Ohio	April 8, 1895	March 4, 1897
42		Joseph McKenna	California	March 5, 1897	January 25, 1898		William McKinley (1897–1901)
43		John W. Griggs	New Jersey	January 25, 1898	March 29, 1901
44		Philander C. Knox	Pennsylvania	April 5, 1901	June 30, 1904
							Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)
45		William Henry Moody	Massachusetts	July 1, 1904	December 17, 1906
46		Charles Bonaparte	Maryland	December 17, 1906	March 4, 1909
47		George W. Wickersham	New York	March 4, 1909	March 4, 1913		William Howard Taft (1909–1913)
48		James McReynolds	Tennessee	March 5, 1913	August 29, 1914		Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921)
49		Thomas Watt Gregory	Texas	August 29, 1914	March 4, 1919
50		A. Mitchell Palmer	Pennsylvania	March 5, 1919	March 4, 1921
51		Harry M. Daugherty	Ohio	March 4, 1921	April 6, 1924		Warren G. Harding (1921–1923)
							Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929)
52		Harlan F. Stone	New York	April 7, 1924	March 1, 1925
53		John G. Sargent	Vermont	March 7, 1925	March 4, 1929
54		William D. Mitchell	Minnesota	March 4, 1929	March 4, 1933		Herbert Hoover (1929–1933)
55		Homer Stille Cummings	Connecticut	March 4, 1933	January 1, 1939		Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945)
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		Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)
59		Tom C. Clark	Texas	June 27, 1945	July 26, 1949
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 D. Eisenhower (1953–1961)
63		William P. Rogers	New York	October 23, 1957	January 20, 1961
64		Robert F. Kennedy	Massachusetts	January 20, 1961	September 3, 1964		John F. Kennedy (1961–1963)
							Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969)
65		Nicholas Katzenbach	Illinois	September 4, 1964[b]	January 28, 1965
				January 28, 1965	November 28, 1966
66		Ramsey Clark	Texas	November 28, 1966[b]	March 10, 1967
				March 10, 1967	January 20, 1969
67		John N. Mitchell	New York	January 20, 1969	February 15, 1972		Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
68		Richard Kleindienst	Arizona	February 15, 1972	April 30, 1973[10]
69		Elliot Richardson	Massachusetts	May 25, 1973[10]	October 20, 1973
–		Robert Bork[c] Acting	Pennsylvania	October 20, 1973	January 4, 1974
70		William B. Saxbe	Ohio	January 4, 1974	February 2, 1975
							Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
71		Edward H. Levi	Illinois	February 2, 1975	January 20, 1977
–		Dick Thornburgh[d] Acting	Pennsylvania	January 20, 1977	January 26, 1977		Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
72		Griffin Bell	Georgia	January 26, 1977	August 16, 1979
73		Benjamin Civiletti	Maryland	August 16, 1979	January 19, 1981
74		William French Smith	California	January 23, 1981	February 25, 1985		Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
75		Edwin Meese	California	February 25, 1985	August 12, 1988
76		Dick Thornburgh	Pennsylvania	August 12, 1988	August 15, 1991
							George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)
77		William Barr 1st term	Virginia	August 16, 1991[b]	November 26, 1991
				November 26, 1991	January 20, 1993
–		Stuart M. Gerson[e] Acting	Washington, D.C.	January 20, 1993	March 12, 1993		Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
78		Janet Reno	Florida	March 12, 1993	January 20, 2001
–		Eric Holder[f] Acting	Washington, D.C.	January 20, 2001	February 2, 2001		George W. Bush (2001–2009)
79		John Ashcroft	Missouri	February 2, 2001	February 3, 2005
80		Alberto Gonzales	Texas	February 3, 2005	September 17, 2007
–		Paul Clement[g] Acting	Washington, D.C.	September 17, 2007	September 18, 2007
–		Peter Keisler[g] Acting	Washington, D.C.	September 18, 2007	November 9, 2007
81		Michael Mukasey	New York	November 9, 2007	January 20, 2009
–		Mark Filip Acting	Illinois	January 20, 2009	February 3, 2009		Barack Obama (2009–2017)
82		Eric Holder	Washington, D.C.	February 3, 2009	April 27, 2015
83		Loretta Lynch	New York	April 27, 2015	January 20, 2017
–		Sally Yates[h] Acting	Georgia	January 20, 2017	January 30, 2017		Donald Trump (2017–2021)
–		Dana Boente Acting	Virginia	January 30, 2017	February 9, 2017
84		Jeff Sessions	Alabama	February 9, 2017	November 7, 2018
–		Rod Rosenstein Acting[i]	Maryland	November 7, 2018	November 7, 2018
–		Matthew Whitaker Acting[j]	Iowa	November 7, 2018	February 14, 2019
85		William Barr 2nd term	Virginia	February 14, 2019	December 23, 2020
–		Jeffrey A. Rosen Acting	Massachusetts	December 24, 2020	January 20, 2021
–		John Demers Acting[k]	Massachusetts	January 20, 2021	January 20, 2021		Joe Biden (2021–2025)
–		Monty Wilkinson Acting	Washington, D.C.	January 20, 2021	March 11, 2021
86		Merrick Garland	Maryland	March 11, 2021	January 20, 2025
–		James McHenry[25] Acting		January 20, 2025	February 5, 2025		Donald Trump (2025–present)
87		Pam Bondi	Florida	February 5, 2025	Incumbent

Line of succession

28 U.S.C. § 508 establishes the first two positions in the line of succession, while allowing the attorney general to designate other high-ranking officers of the Department of Justice as subsequent successors.^[26] Furthermore, an Executive Order defines subsequent positions, the most recent from March 31, 2017, signed by President Donald Trump.^[27] The current line of succession is:

1. United States Deputy Attorney General
2. United States Associate Attorney General
3. Other officers potentially designated by the attorney general (in no particular order):
   • Solicitor General of the United States
   • Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division
   • Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division
   • Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division
   • Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division
   • Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division
   • Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division
   • Assistant Attorney General, Justice Management Division
   • Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division
   • Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs
   • Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel
   • Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Policy
   • Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs
4. United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia
5. United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina
6. United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas

Notable figures

• First Italian American male: Charles Joseph Bonaparte in 1906^[28]
• First Jewish American male: Edward H. Levi in 1975^[29]
• First female: Janet Reno in 1993^[30]
• First Hispanic American male: Alberto Gonzales in 2005^[31]
• First African American male: Eric Holder in 2009^[32]
• First African American female: Loretta Lynch in 2015^[33]

See also

• Executive Order 13787 for "Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Justice"

Notes

1. Unusually for a transitional acting appointment, Yates was dismissed and replaced with another Acting Attorney General before Sessions was confirmed because she refused to defend an executive order of the incoming administration.^[9]
2. Served as acting attorney general in his capacity as deputy attorney general, until his own appointment and confirmation as attorney general.
3. On October 20, 1973, Solicitor General Robert Bork became acting attorney general following the "Saturday Night Massacre", in which U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus both resigned.
4. Served as acting attorney general in his capacity as deputy attorney general, until the appointment of a new attorney general. Thornburgh later served as attorney general from 1988–1991.
5. Served as acting attorney general in his capacity as Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Civil Division.^[11] Gerson was fourth in the line of succession at the Justice Department, but other senior DOJ officials had already resigned.^[12] Janet Reno, President Clinton's nominee for attorney general, was confirmed on March 12,^[13] and he resigned the same day.^[13]
6. Served as acting attorney general in his capacity as deputy attorney general, until the appointment of a new attorney general. Holder later served as attorney general from 2009–2015.
7. On August 27, 2007, President Bush named Solicitor General Paul Clement as the future acting attorney general, to take office upon the resignation of Alberto Gonzales, effective September 17, 2007.^[14] On September 17, President Bush announced that Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ Civil Division Peter Keisler would become acting attorney general, pending a permanent appointment of a presidential nominee.^[15][16] According to administration officials, Clement became acting attorney general at 12:01 am September 17, 2007, and left office 24 hours later.^[17] Keisler served as acting attorney general until the confirmation of Michael Mukasey on November 9, 2007.
8. Served as acting attorney general in her capacity as deputy attorney general, until she was fired after saying the Department of Justice would not defend an executive order in court.^[18]
9. Following the resignation of Jeff Sessions as attorney general at the request of President Donald Trump, Rosenstein served as acting attorney general in his capacity as deputy attorney general for a few hours on November 7, 2018 until Trump signed an executive order naming Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general later that day.^[19]
10. The legality of Matthew Whitaker's appointment as acting attorney general was called into question by several constitutional scholars. Among those included Neal Katyal and George T. Conway III, who asserted it is unconstitutional, because the Attorney General is a principal officer under the Appointments Clause, and thus requires senate consent, even in an acting capacity.^[20] Maryland filed an injunction against Whitaker's appointment on this basis.^[21] John E. Bies at Lawfare regarded it as an unresolved question.^[22] The DOJ Office of Legal Counsel released a legal opinion, asserting that the appointment was legal and consistent with past precedent.^[23]
11. Served as acting attorney general in his capacity as Assistant Attorney General for the DOJ National Security Division for a few hours following the resignation of Jeffrey Rosen at noon on January 20, 2021. President Joe Biden signed an executive order naming Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Human Resources and Administration Monty Wilkinson as acting attorney general later that day.^[24]

References

1. "3 U.S. Code § 19 – Vacancy in offices of both President and Vice President; officers eligible to act". Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
2. 5 U.S.C. § 5312.
3. Herz, Michael (2002). "Washington, Patton, Schwarzkopf and ... Ashcroft?". Constitutional Commentary. Archived from the original on May 31, 2019. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
4. Garner, Bryan A. (May 2013). "LawProse Lesson #116: What's the plural form of attorney general? And what is the plural possessive?". Above the Law. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
5. Judiciary Act of 1789, section 35.
6. Cabinets and Counselors: The President and the Executive Branch (1997). Congressional Quarterly. p. 87.
7. "Salary Table No. 2021-EX Rates of Basic Pay for the Executive Schedule (EX)" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 23, 2021.
8. Gerstein, Josh (January 17, 2017). "Trump will allow U.S. attorneys to stay past Friday". POLITICO. Archived from the original on July 25, 2019. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
9. Horwitz, Sari (January 30, 2017). "Who is Sally Yates? Meet the acting attorney general Trump fired for 'betraying' the Justice Department". Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 29, 2020. Retrieved July 25, 2019.
10. Stern, Laurence; Johnson, Haynes (May 1, 1973). "3 Top Nixon Aides, Kleindienst Out; President Accepts Full Responsibility; Richardson Will Conduct New Probe". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
11. Staff reporter (February 21, 1993). "Stuart Gerson's Parting Shot". The New York Times. Retrieved December 12, 2008. As supporters of the Brady gun-control bill prepare to introduce it in Congress yet again this week, they find a welcome, if unlikely, ally in Stuart Gerson, the Acting Attorney General. Because President Clinton has had so many problems finding a new Attorney General, Mr. Gerson remains in office ...
12. Labaton, Stephen (January 25, 1993). "Notes on Justice; Who's in Charge? Bush Holdover Says He Is, but Two Clinton Men Differ". The New York Times. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
13. Ifill, Gwen (March 12, 1993). "Reno Confirmed in Top Justice Job". The New York Times. Retrieved December 12, 2008. She will replace Acting Attorney General Stuart M. Gerson, a holdover appointee from the Bush Administration. Ms. Reno said he resigned today.
14. Meyers, Steven Lee (August 27, 2007). "Embattled Attorney General Resigns". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved August 27, 2007.
15. "President Bush Announces Judge Michael Mukasey as Nominee for Attorney General" Archived November 11, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, White House press release, September 17, 2007
16. "Bush Text on Attorney General Nomination". NewsOK.com. The Oklahoman. The Associated Press. September 17, 2007. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
17. Eggen, Dan; Elizabeth Williamson (September 19, 2007). "Democrats May Tie Confirmation to Gonzales Papers". The Washington Post. pp. A10. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2007.
18. Perez, Evan; Diamond, Jeremy (January 30, 2017). "Trump fires acting AG after she declines to defend travel ban". CNN. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
19. Blitzer, Ronn (November 7, 2018). "Attorney General Jeff Sessions is Out. Here's What Could Happen Next". Law & Crime. Retrieved September 18, 2024.
20. Katyal, Neal K. (November 8, 2018). "Opinion | Trump's Appointment of the Acting Attorney General Is Unconstitutional". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 4, 2023. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
21. "Maryland Says Matthew Whitaker Appointment As Acting Attorney General Is Unlawful". NPR.org. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
22. "Matthew Whitaker's Appointment as Acting Attorney General: Three Lingering Questions". Lawfare. November 8, 2018. Archived from the original on November 16, 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
23. Jarrett, Laura. "DOJ says Whitaker's appointment as acting attorney general is constitutional". CNN. Archived from the original on November 14, 2018. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
24. "Trump's acting attorney general leaves without creating controversial special counsels". CNN.
25. Gerstein, Josh (January 20, 2025). "Trump taps longtime immigration official as acting attorney general". Politico. Retrieved January 22, 2025.
26. "U.S.C. Title 28 – JUDICIARY AND JUDICIAL PROCEDURE". www.gpo.gov. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
27. "Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Justice". Federal Register. April 5, 2017. Archived from the original on April 5, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
28. LaGumina, Salvatore J.; Cavaioli, Frank J.; Primeggia, Salvatore; Varacalli, Joseph A. (September 2, 2003). The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-58333-0.
29. "#05-591: 11-03-05 NEW AWARD CREATED TO HONOR FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL EDWARD H. LEVI". www.justice.gov. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
30. Magill, Frank N. (May 13, 2013). The 20th Century O-Z: Dictionary of World Biography. Routledge. ISBN 9781136593697.
31. "Alberto Gonzales becomes first Hispanic U.S. attorney general | February 3, 2005". HISTORY. Retrieved May 18, 2024.
32. Rennison, Callie Marie; Dodge, Mary (December 1, 2016). Introduction to Criminal Justice: Systems, Diversity, and Change. SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781506347745.
33. Prater, Nia (January 12, 2017). "Loretta Lynch Bids Farewell to Justice Department". U.S. News.

External links

• Official website

U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense	Order of precedence of the United States as Attorney General	Succeeded by Doug Burgum as Secretary of the Interior
U.S. presidential line of succession
Preceded by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth	7th in line	Succeeded by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum