United States Assistant Attorney General
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 | This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Donald Trump is now president. Biden era justice department no longer exists. (February 2025) |
Motto in English: For The Lady Who Pursues Justice.
Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) are headed by an assistant attorney general.
The president of the United States appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the advice and consent of the Senate.[1] United States Department of Justice components that are led by an assistant attorney general are:
- Antitrust Division
- Civil Division
- Civil Rights Division
- Criminal Division
- Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD)
- Justice Management Division (JMD)
- National Security Division
- Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
- Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA)
- Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)
- Office of Legal Policy (OLP)
- Tax Division
Assistant attorneys general report either to the deputy attorney general (in the case of the Criminal Division, the Justice Management Division and the Offices of Legal Counsel, Legislative Affairs, and Legal Policy) or to the associate attorney general (in the case of the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment & Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions and the Office of Justice Programs).
List of U.S. assistant attorneys general
[edit]Assistant Attorney General
[edit]| Name | Years of service | Appointed by President |
|---|---|---|
| Titian J. Coffey | 1880–1884 | Chester A. Arthur |
| Zachariah Montgomery | 1885–1889 | Grover Cleveland |
| John C. Chaney | 1889–1893 | Benjamin Harrison |
| William Arden Maury | 1889–1893 | |
| Holmes Conrad | 1893–1895 | Grover Cleveland |
| Joshua Eric Dodge | 1893–1897 | |
| Edward Baldwin Whitney | 1895–1897 | |
| James Edmund Boyd | 1897–1900 | William McKinley |
| James M. Beck | 1900–1903 | |
| James Clark McReynolds | 1903–1907 | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Edward Terry Sanford | 1907–1908 | |
| James Alexander Fowler | 1908–1911 | |
| William H. Lewis | 1911 | William Taft |
| Ernest Knaebel | 1912–1916 | |
| William L. Frierson | 1917–1920 | Woodrow Wilson |
| Annette Abbott Adams | 1920–1921 | |
| Mabel Walker Willebrandt | 1921–1929 | Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge |
| Roger Wilkins | 1966–1969 | Lyndon Johnson |
| Wesley Pomeroy | 1968–1969 | Richard Nixon |
Antitrust Division
[edit]| Name | Years of service | Appointed by |
|---|---|---|
| William Joseph Donovan | 1926–1927 | Calvin Coolidge |
| John Lord O'Brian | 1929–1933 | Herbert Hoover |
| Robert H. Jackson | 1937–1938 | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Thurman Arnold | 1938–1943 | |
| Wendell Berge | 1943–1947 | |
| John F. Sonnett | 1947–1948 | Harry S. Truman |
| Herbert Bergson | 1948–1950 | |
| Leonard Bessman | 1950–1951 | |
| H. Graham Morison | 1951–1952 | |
| Newell A. Clapp | 1952–1953 | acting |
| Stanley Barnes | 1953–1956 | Eisenhower |
| Victor R. Hansen | 1956–1959 | |
| Robert A. Bicks | 1959–1961 | |
| Lee Loevinger | 1961–1963 | Kennedy |
| William Horsley Orrick, Jr. | 1963–1965 | |
| Donald F. Turner | 1965–1968 | Lyndon Johnson |
| Edwin Zimmerman | 1968–1969 | |
| Richard W. McLaren | 1969–1972 | Richard Nixon |
| Walker B. Comegys | 1972 | acting |
| Thomas E. Kauper | 1972–1976 | Richard Nixon |
| Donald I. Baker | 1976–1977 | Gerald R. Ford |
| John H. Shenefield | 1977–1979 | Jimmy Carter |
| Sanford Litvack | 1979–1981 | |
| William Baxter | 1981–1983 | Ronald Reagan |
| J. Paul McGrath | 1983–1985 | |
| Douglas H. Ginsburg | 1985–1986 | |
| Charles Rule | 1986–1989 | |
| James F. Rill | 1989–1992 | George H.W. Bush |
| Charles James | 1992 | acting |
| J. Mark Gidley | 1992–1993 | acting |
| Anne Bingaman | 1993–1996 | Bill Clinton |
| Joel Klein | 1996–2000 | |
| Douglas Melamed | 2000–2001 | acting |
| Charles James | 2001–2003 | George W. Bush |
| R. Hewitt Pate | 2003–2005 | |
| Thomas O. Barnett | 2005–2008 | |
| Deborah A. Garza | 2008–2009 | acting |
| Christine A. Varney | 2009–2011 | Barack Obama |
| Sharis Pozen | 2011–2012 | acting |
| Joseph F. Wayland | 2012 | acting |
| Renata Hesse | 2012–2013 | acting |
| William Baer | 2013–2017 | Barack Obama |
| Makan Delrahim | 2017–2021 | Donald Trump |
| Jonathan Kanter | 2021–2024 | Joe Biden |
| Doha Mekki | 2024–2025 | acting |
| Gail Slater | 2025– | Donald Trump |
Civil Division
[edit]| # | Name | Term began | Term ended | President(s) served under |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles B. Rugg | 1930 | 1933 | Herbert Hoover |
| 2 | George Clinton Sweeney | 1933 | 1935 | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| 3 | Angus D. MacLean | 1935 | ||
| 4 | James W. Morris | 1935 | 1937 | |
| 5 | Sam E. Whitaker | 1937 | 1939 | |
| 6 | Francis M. Shea | 1939 | 1945 | |
| 7 | John F. Sonnett | 1945 | 1947 | Harry S. Truman |
| 8 | Peyton Ford | 1947 | 1949 | |
| 9 | H. Graham Morison | 1949 | 1951 | |
| 10 | Holmes Baldridge | 1951 | 1953 | |
| 11 | Warren E. Burger | 1953 | 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| 12 | George Cochran Doub | 1953 | 1960 | |
| 13 | William H. Orrick Jr. | 1961 | 1963 | John F. Kennedy |
| 14 | John W. Douglas | 1963 | 1966 | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 15 | Barefoot Sanders | 1966 | 1967 | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| 16 | Edwin L. Weisl Jr. | 1967 | 1969 | |
| 17 | William Ruckelshaus | 1969 | 1970 | Richard Nixon |
| 18 | L. Patrick Gray | 1970 | 1972 | |
| 19 | Harlington Wood Jr. | 1972 | 1973 | |
| 20 | Carla Anderson Hills | 1973 | 1975 | |
| 21 | Rex E. Lee | 1975 | 1977 | Gerald Ford |
| 22 | Barbara A. Babcock | 1977 | 1979 | Jimmy Carter |
| 23 | Alice Daniels | 1979 | 1981 | |
| 24 | Paul J. McGrath | 1981 | 1985 | Ronald Reagan |
| 25 | Richard K. Willard | 1985 | 1988 | |
| 26 | John Bolton | 1988 | 1989 | |
| 27 | Stuart M. Gerson | 1989 | 1993 | George H. W. Bush |
| 28 | Frank W. Hunger | 1993 | 1999 | Bill Clinton |
| 29 | David W. Ogden | 1999 | 2001 | |
| 30 | Robert McCallum Jr. | 2001 | 2003 | George W. Bush |
| 31 | Peter Keisler | 2003 | 2007 | |
| 32 | Gregory G. Katsas | 2008 | 2009 | |
| 33 | Tony West | 2009 | 2012 | Barack Obama |
| 34 | Stuart F. Delery | 2012 | 2014 | |
| - | Benjamin C. Mizer (acting) | 2014 | 2017 | |
| - | Chad Readler (acting) | 2017 | 2018 | Donald Trump |
| 35 | Jody Hunt | 2018 | 2020 | |
| - | Ethan P. Davis (acting) | 2020 | 2020 | |
| - | Jeffrey Clark (acting) | 2020 | 2021 | |
| - | Brian Boynton (acting) | 2021 | 2025 | Joe Biden |
| - | Brett Shumate (acting) | 2025 | 2025 | Donald Trump |
| - | Yaakov M. Roth (interim) | 2025 | Present | |
| Source:[2] | ||||
Civil Rights Division
[edit]- Harmeet Dhillon (Assuming office 2025)
- Mac Warner (Acting 2025–present)
- Kristen Clarke (2021–2025)
- Eric Dreiband (2018–2021)
- John M. Gore (Acting 2017–2018)
- Thomas E. Wheeler II (Acting 2017)
- Vanita Gupta (Acting 2014–2017)[3]
- Molly J. Moran (Acting 2014)
- Jocelyn Samuels (Acting 2013–2014)
- Thomas Perez, (2009–2013)
- Grace Chung Becker (Acting 2008)
- Wan J. Kim, (2005–2007)
- R. Alexander Acosta (2003–2005)
- Bradley Schlozman (Acting 2003)
- Ralph F. Boyd Jr. (2001–2003)
- William R. Yeomans (Acting 2001)
- Bill Lann Lee (1997–2001)
- Deval Patrick, (1994–1997)
- James P. Turner (Acting 1993–94)
- John R. Dunne(1990–1993)
- James P. Turner (Acting 1989–1990)
- William C. Lucas (Acting 1988–1989)
- William Bradford Reynolds (1981–1988)
- Drew S. Days, III (1977–1980)
- J. Stanley Pottinger (1973–1977)
- David Luke Norman (1971–1973)
- Jerris Leonard (1969–1971)
- Stephen J. Pollak (1968–1969)
- John Michael Doar (1965 to 1967)
- Burke Marshall (1961–1964)
- Harold R. Tyler (1960–1961)[4]
- W. Wilson White (1957–1960)[5]
Criminal Division
[edit]- Kenneth Polite (2021–2023)
- Brian Benczkowski (2018–2020)
- Leslie Caldwell (2014–2017)
- Lanny Breuer (2009–2013)
- Alice Fisher (2005–2008)
- Christopher A. Wray (2003–2005)
- Michael Chertoff (2001–2003)
- James Robinson (1998–2001)
- Jo Ann Harris (1993–1995)
- Robert Mueller (1990–1993)
- Edward S.G. Dennis (1988–1990)
- William Weld (1986–1988)
- Stephen S. Trott (1983–1986)
- D. Lowell Jensen (1981–1983)
- Philip Heymann (1978–1981)
- Benjamin Civiletti (1977–1978)
- Dick Thornburgh (1975–1977)
- Henry E. Petersen (1972–1974)
- Will Wilson (1969–1971)
- Fred Vinson Jr. (1965–1969)
- Herbert Miller Jr. (1961–1965)
- Malcolm R. Wilkey (1959–1961)
- Malcolm Anderson (1958–1959)
- Warren Olney III (1953–1957)
- Charles B. Murray (1952–1953)
- James M. McInerney (1950–1952)
- Alexander M. Campbell (1948–1949)
- T. Vincent Quinn (1947–1948)
- Theron Caudle (1945–1947)
- Tom C. Clark (1943–1945)
- Wendell Berge (1940–1943)
- O. John Rogge (1939–1940)
- Brien McMahon (1936–1939)
- Joseph B. Keenan (1934–1936)
- Pat Malloy (1933)
- E. Nugent Dodds (1931–1933)
- Oscar R. Luhring (1925–1930)
- William J. Donovan (1924–1925)
- Earl J. Davis (1924)
- John Crim (1921–1923)
- Robert P. Stewart (1919–1921)
National Security Division
[edit]| Name | President(s) | Announcement | Nomination sent to the Senate |
Confirmation by the Senate |
Sworn in | Left office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenneth L. Wainstein[6] | George W. Bush | March 13, 2006 | September 21, 2006[7] | September 28, 2006[8] | March 30, 2008, to become Homeland Security Advisor (Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism)[9] | |
| J. Patrick Rowan | June 19, 2008[10] | September 26, 2008[11][12][13] | October 3, 2008[12] | January 20, 2009[14] | ||
| David S. Kris | Barack Obama | January 22, 2009[15] | February 11, 2009[14] | March 25, 2009[16] | – | – |
| Lisa Monaco | March 17, 2011[17] | June 28, 2011[18] | July 1, 2011[19] | March 8, 2013 | ||
| John Demers | Donald Trump, Joe Biden | September 2, 2017 | September 5, 2017 | February 15, 2018 | February 22, 2018 | June 21, 2021 |
| Matthew G. Olsen | Joe Biden | May 26, 2021 | May 27, 2021 | October 28, 2021 | November 1, 2021 | January 20, 2025 |
Environment and Natural Resources Division
[edit]- Ernest Knaebel (1911–1916)[20]
- Ramsey Clark (1961–1965)
- Jeffrey Clark (2018–2021)
- Todd Kim (2021–2025)
Justice Management Division
[edit]Tax Division
[edit]- Robert H. Jackson (1936–1938)
- Mabel Walker Willebrandt (1921–1929)
Office of Justice Programs
[edit]- Jimmy Gurulé (1990–1992)
- Laurie O. Robinson[21]
Office of Legal Counsel
[edit]| Name | Years served | Appointed by | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angus D. MacLean | 1933–1935 | Franklin D. Roosevelt [22] | |
| Golden W. Bell | 1935–1939 | ||
| Charles Fahy | 1940–1941 | ||
| Oscar S. Cox | 1942–1943 | ||
| Hugh B. Cox | 1943–1945 | ||
| Harold W. Judson | 1945–1946 | ||
| George T. Washington | 1946–1949 | Harry Truman | |
| Abraham J. Harris | 1950–1951 | ||
| Joseph C. Duggan | 1951–1952 | ||
| J. Lee Rankin | 1953–1956 | Dwight Eisenhower | Became Solicitor General in 1956. |
| W. Wilson White | 1957 | After a short tenure, selected to be first head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. | |
| Malcolm R. Wilkey | 1958–1959 | ||
| Robert Kramer | 1959–1961 | ||
| Nicholas Katzenbach | 1961–1962 | John F. Kennedy | |
| Norbert A. Schlei | 1962–1966 | ||
| Frank H. Wozencraft | 1966–1969 | Lyndon Johnson | |
| William H. Rehnquist | 1969–1971 | Richard Nixon | Later nominated and confirmed as Associate, and subsequent Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. |
| Ralph E. Erickson | 1971–1972 | ||
| Roger C. Cramton | 1972–1973 | ||
| Antonin Scalia | 1974–1977 | Gerald Ford | Later nominated and confirmed as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. |
| John M. Harmon | 1977–1981 | Jimmy Carter [23] | |
| Theodore B. Olson | 1981–1984 | Ronald Reagan | Later became U.S. Solicitor General. |
| Charles J. Cooper | 1985–1988 | ||
| Douglas Kmiec | 1988–1989 | Later U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta during the "Arab Spring" uprisings. | |
| William P. Barr | 1989–1990 | George H. W. Bush | |
| Michael Luttig | 1990–1991 | ||
| Timothy Flanigan | 1991–1992 | ||
| Walter Dellinger | 1993–1994 | Bill Clinton | Later became acting U.S. Solicitor General. |
| Beth Nolan | 1995 | acting [24] | Served as acting Assistant AG, OLC, while Deputy Assistant Attorney General. Nominated to become Assistant AG, OLC, but Senate did not vote on the nomination. Became White House Counsel in 1996. |
| Dawn Johnsen | 1996–1998 | acting | |
| Randolph D. Moss | 1998–2001 | Bill Clinton | Served as acting AAG from 1998 to 2000; nominated November 9, 1999; Recess-appointed August 3, 2000; confirmed by United States Senate December 15, 2000 |
| Jay S. Bybee | 2001 – March 2003 | George W. Bush | In charge when the OLC issued the Bybee memo and other Torture memos; appointed as a federal judge; started March 21, 2003 |
| Jack Goldsmith | October 2003 – June 2004 | Later Professor at Harvard Law School and author of The Terror Presidency (2007) | |
| Daniel Levin | 2004–2005 | acting | |
| Steven G. Bradbury | 2005–2009 | acting | Served as acting AAG 2005–2007 (nominated June 23, 2005; nomination approved by Senate Judiciary Committee but never voted on by full Senate), continued to function as senior appointed official in charge of OLC until January 20, 2009. |
| David J. Barron | 2009–2010 | Professor at Harvard Law School and served as Acting AAG from January 2009 to July 2010. | |
| Jonathan G. Cedarbaum | 2010–2011 | Served as acting AAG, July–November 2010; continued to function as senior appointed official in charge of OLC until the end of January 2011. | |
| Caroline D. Krass | 2011 | Senior appointed official leading OLC since the end of January 2011 until June 2011, when Virginia A. Seitz was confirmed. | |
| Virginia A. Seitz | 2011–2013 | Barack Obama | Confirmed by the Senate in a voice vote on June 28, 2011. Resigned effective December 20, 2013.[25] |
| Karl R. Thompson | 2014–2017 | acting | Appointed Principal Deputy AAG on March 24, 2014.[26] |
| Curtis E. Gannon | 2017 | Appointed Principal Deputy AAG on January 20, 2017.[27] | |
| Steven Engel | 2017–2021 | Donald Trump | |
| Christopher H. Schroeder | 2021–2023 | Joe Biden | |
| Benjamin C. Mizer | 2023 | acting | |
| Gillian E. Metzger | 2023–2024 | ||
| Christopher Fonzone | 2024–2025 | Joe Biden | |
| Henry C. Whitaker | 2025-present | Donald Trump |
Office of Legal Policy
[edit]- Viet D. Dinh (2001–2003)
- Daniel J. Bryant (2003–2005)
- Rachel Brand (2005–2007)
- Elisebeth C. Cook (2008–2009)
- Christopher H. Schroeder (2010–2012)
- Beth Ann Williams (2017–2020)
- Hampton Dellinger (2021–present)
Office of Legislative Affairs
[edit]- Carlos Uriarte (August 2022 - January 2025)
- Peter Hyun (November 2021 – August 2022; acting)
- Helaine Greenfeld (January 2021 – November 2021; acting}
- Stephen Boyd (August 2017 – January 2021)
- Peter J. Kadzik (June 2014 – January 2017)
- Judith C. Appelbaum (June 13, 2012–?)
- Ronald H. Weich (April 29, 2009 – April 25, 2012)
- Richard Hertling (2003–2007)
- Daniel J. Bryant (2001–2003)
- Robert Raben (1999–2001)
- Jon Jennings Acting (1998–1999)
- L. Anthony Sutin (1998)
- John R. Bolton (1985–1989)
- Robert A. McConnell (1981–1985)
- Patricia Wald (1977–1979)
- Michael Uhlmann (1975–1977)[28]
- Mitch McConnell (1975, acting)
- W. Vincent Rakestraw (March 3, 1974 – February 1, 1975)[28]
- Mike McKevitt (1973)
References
[edit]- ^ 28 U.S.C. § 506
- ^ United States Department of Justice (November 8, 2013). "FEDERAL ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL". justice.gov.
- ^ "Attorney General Holder Announces Vanita Gupta to Serve as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division | OPA | Department of Justice". Justice.gov. October 15, 2014. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
- ^ "James P. Turner, Used and Abused: The Civil Rights Division, Washington Post, Sunday, December 14, 1997; Page C01".
- ^ "The Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division: A Historical Perspective as the Division Nears 50, Remarks by Wan Kim, Mar. 22, 2006" (PDF).
- ^ "Presidential Nomination: Kenneth Leonard Wainstein". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
- ^ Wayback Machine
- ^ "#06-655: 09-28-06 Kenneth L. Wainstein Sworn in as First Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division". www.usdoj.gov.
- ^ "Ken Wainstein, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
- ^ "Personnel Announcement". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
- ^ Statement Of Sen. Leahy On Nomination Of J. Patrick Rowan
- ^ a b "results.gov : Resources For The President's Team". whitehouse.gov – via National Archives.
- ^ http://www.govtrack.us/congress/record.xpd?id=110-s20080926-139 [dead link]
- ^ a b "Nomination Press Release – Assistant Attorney General – The White House". whitehouse.gov. February 11, 2009. Retrieved November 27, 2013 – via National Archives.
- ^ Lichtblau, Eric (January 22, 2009). "Obama Picks Critic of Warrantless Wiretapping for Slot at Justice Dept". The New York Times.
- ^ "U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress – 1st Session". www.senate.gov.
- ^ "Lisa Monaco Nominated To Lead DOJ National Security Division". The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
- ^ "3 Justice Dept. Nominees Are Confirmed". The New York Times. June 29, 2011.
- ^ "Meet the Assistant Attorney General". justice.gov. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
- ^ "Ernest Knaebel". www.justice.gov. April 13, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- ^ "Office of Justice Programs: Laurie O. Robinson, Acting Assistant Attorney General/Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General". Ojp.usdoj.gov. November 9, 2009. Archived from the original on July 1, 2013. Retrieved July 4, 2013.
- ^ Register, Department of Justice and the Courts of the United States, United States Government Printing Office (1972–1976), p. 131. "Office of Legal Counsel (Formerly Office of Assistant Solicitor General and Executive Adjudications Division," list of officeholders through 1973.
- ^ John M. Harmon bio Archived 2008-12-07 at the Wayback Machine, Graves, Dougherty, Hearon & Moody.
- ^ "Nolan to Become 1st Female White House Counsel". Los Angeles Times. August 20, 1999. Retrieved August 2, 2009.
- ^ "National Law Journal". National Law Journal.
- ^ "Meet the Assistant Attorney General – OLC – Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. January 11, 2018.
- ^ "Meet the Leadership". justice.gov. United States Department of Justice. January 20, 2017. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
- ^ a b "White House Press Release" (PDF). Ford Library Museum. May 22, 1975.
