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.
History
The concept of a state attorney general originates with the attorneys general of the Thirteen Colonies, who in turn were modeled after the Attorney General for England and Wales. (At p. 6.) The first recorded appointment of an attorney general in the colonies was Virginia's appointment of Richard Lee I in 1643. The office may have existed for some time in a colony before it was recorded in official records. For example, Maryland was settled in 1634 but an attorney general is not mentioned in its records until 1658. In the colonial era, the office was poorly defined, and the pay was terrible and not commensurate to the scope and amount of work. The primitive state of statutory law in the colonies meant that practicing English law required a strong grasp of the common law to fill in the gaps. This was quite a problem when most of the people who actually understood the common law were still in England.
Of the 50 states in the Union, 34 states created or continued the office in their state constitution, eight others created the office in statutory law at the time of statehood, and eight others did not have an attorney general when they became states. (At p. 8.) A few states were slow to establish the office. Vermont's 1793 constitution mentions an attorney general but the legislature did not actually pass legislation to implement that constitutional provision until 1904. (At p. 9.) Some states went through the odd exercise of creating the office, abolishing it, then reestablishing it. Specifically, Illinois (1848–1867), Indiana (1826–1855), Maryland (1851–1864), and Massachusetts (1843–1849) all went through periods of disestablishing and reestablishing their state attorney general offices. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all the inhabited federal territories now have an attorney general or chief legal officer.
Selection The most prevalent method of selecting a state's attorney general is by popular election. 43 states have an elected attorney general. 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 appointed by the governor. The attorney general in Tennessee is appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court for an eight-year term. In Maine, the attorney general is elected by the state Legislature for a two-year term.
The District of Columbia and two U.S. territories, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, elect their attorneys general for a four-year term. 2014 marked the first year that the District of Columbia and the Northern Mariana Islands held an election for the office. In American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the attorney general is appointed by the governor. In Puerto Rico, the attorney general is officially called the secretary of justice, but is commonly known as the Puerto Rico attorney general.
Many states have passed term limits limiting the selection to 2 consecutive terms (9 states); 2 terms maximum (4 states), but 33 states have no term limits.
Duties
The specific duties of a state attorney general vary significantly from state to state, but there are several duties common to most offices:
Control of litigation involving the state (representing the state at the trial and appellate levels in various types of litigation); (At p. 12.) Chief legal officer of the state (chief legal advisor to the governor and various state government agencies); Drafting advisory opinions on state law; (At p. 13.) Public advocacy (i.e., child support enforcement, consumer protection, state-level antitrust enforcement, utilities regulation, and crime victim advocacy); Criminal law enforcement (most attorneys general have relatively limited authority to initiate criminal prosecutions, but most are responsible for responding to defendants' appeals from prosecutions initiated in trial courts by locally elected district attorneys); Law reform (i.e., serving on a law reform commission); Exercising investigative authority (i.e., leading investigations of government misconduct, malfeasance, individual criminal activity, or issues of substantial public interest); (At p. 14.) and Setting public policy (invoking the authority of the statewide office as a platform to "speak with authority and influence on major questions" involving law and justice).
Defense of the state in federal lawsuits State attorneys general enforce both state and federal laws. Because they are sworn to uphold the United States' constitution and laws as well as the state's, they may decline to defend a state law in a federal preemption case.
Organization
Two of the most common management models for organizing a state attorney general office are the "chief deputy model" and the "multideputy cabinet model". (At p. 348.)
In the "chief deputy model", the state attorney general delegates supervisory authority over all substantive divisions to a chief deputy attorney general, who acts as the de facto chief executive officer and presides over executive committee meetings.
In the "multideputy cabinet model", there is no chief deputy. The office's substantive divisions are consolidated under a small number of first assistant or chief assistant attorneys general who together form the office's executive committee and function as a de facto cabinet to the state attorney general.
Current attorneys general The current party composition of the state attorneys general is: 23 Democrats 27 Republicans
The composition for the District of Columbia and the 5 populated territories is: 2 Democrats 1 Republican 2 Non-partisan 1 New Progressive
Rows of the attorney general table below are color coded indicating the political party of the office holder.
OfficeholderStatePartyAssumed officeTerm expiresLaw schoolTerm limitsAlabamaRepublican2027 (term limits)University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa2 consecutive termsActingAlaskaRepublicanAppointedUniversity of the Pacificno term limitsAmerican SamoaNonpartisanAppointedUniversity of Hawaii, ManoaArizonaDemocratic2027Arizona State University2 consecutive termsArkansasRepublican2027Tulane University 2 terms maximumCaliforniaDemocratic2027Yale University2 terms maximumColoradoDemocratic2027 (term limits)New York University 2 consecutive termsConnecticutDemocratic2027University of Chicago no term limitsDelawareDemocratic2027Villanova University no term limitsDistrict of ColumbiaDemocratic2027Harvard UniversityFloridaRepublican2027Georgetown University 2 consecutive termsGeorgiaRepublican2027University of Georgia no term limitsGuamRepublican2027Santa Clara University HawaiiDemocraticAppointed University of Hawaii, Manoa no term limitsIdahoRepublican2027University of Washington no term limitsIllinoisDemocratic2027Illinois Institute of Technology no term limitsIndianaRepublican2029Indiana University, Indianapolis no term limitsIowaRepublican2027University of Chicago no term limitsKansasRepublican2027Yale University no term limits KentuckyRepublican 2028University of Kentucky 2 consecutive termsLouisianaRepublican2028 Louisiana State UniversityPepperdine University no term limitsMaineDemocratic2025 (Elected by the Legislature)Roger Williams University 4 two year termsMarylandDemocratic2027Harvard University no term limitsMassachusettsDemocratic2027University of California, Los Angeles no term limitsMichiganDemocratic2027 (term limits)Wayne State University 2 terms maxMinnesotaDemocratic (DFL)2027University of Minnesota, Twin Citiesno term limitsMississippiRepublican2028 University of Mississippi, Oxford no term limitsMissouriRepublican2029Catholic University of America no term limitsMontanaRepublican2029University of Montana 2 terms in 16-year periodNebraskaRepublican2027University of Chicago no term limitsNevadaDemocratic2027 (term limits)Ohio State University, Columbus 2 terms maxNew HampshireRepublican2025 (appointed)George Washington University no term limitsNew JerseyDemocraticAppointedSeton Hall University no term limitsNew MexicoDemocratic2027Stanford University 2 consecutive termsNew YorkDemocratic2027Howard University no term limitsNorth CarolinaDemocratic2029University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill no term limitsNorth DakotaRepublican2027American University no term limitsNorthern Mariana IslandsDemocratic2027Gonzaga UniversityOhioRepublican2027University of Dayton 2 consecutive termsOklahomaRepublican2027Georgetown University 2 terms maxOregonDemocratic2029Willamette University no term limitsPennsylvaniaRepublican2029Widener University (Delaware) 2 consecutive termsPuerto RicoThe title of the head of Puerto Rico's Justice Department is the Secretary of Justice, not Attorney General.New ProgressiveAppointedPontifical Catholic University of Puerto RicoRhode IslandDemocratic2027 (term limits) Boston College 2 consecutive termsSouth CarolinaRepublican2027University of South Carolina, Columbia no term limitsSouth DakotaRepublican2027University of South Dakota 2 consecutive termsTennesseeRepublican2030 (Elected by State Supreme Court)Harvard University no term limitsTexasRepublican2027University of Virginiano term limitsU.S. Virgin IslandsNonpartisanAppointedStanford UniversityUtahRepublican2029Pepperdine University no term limitsVermontDemocratic2027Boston College no term limitsVirginiaDemocratic2030University of Virginia no term limitsWashingtonDemocratic2029Harvard University no term limitsWest VirginiaRepublican2029West Virginia University no term limitsWisconsinDemocratic2027Stanford University no term limitsWyomingRepublicanAppointedUniversity of Wyoming no term limits
See also State constitutional officer (United States) National Association of Attorneys General List of U.S. statewide elected officials
Notes
References
External links
Listing of official State Attorney General websites