Flag of a United States Assistant Attorney General

Many of the divisions and offices of the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

are headed by an assistant attorney general. The

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

appoints individuals to the position of assistant attorney general with the

advice and consent Advice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in enacting formulae of bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts. It describes either of two situations: where a weak executive branch of a government enacts something previo ...

of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. United States Department of Justice components that are led by an assistant attorney general are: *

Antitrust Division The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice that enforces U.S. antitrust law. It has exclusive jurisdiction over U.S. federal criminal antitrust prosecutions. It also has jurisdic ...

* Civil Division *

Civil Rights Division The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion, and national origin. The ...

* Criminal Division *

National Security Division National Security Division, or Bahagian Keselamatan Negara (BKN), is a senior grouping within the Malaysian government which meets infrequently. According to a United States Embassy telegram leaked by WikiLeaks in 2011, BKN is regarded as Malaysia' ...

* Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) *

Justice Management Division The Justice Management Division (JMD) is a division of the United States Department of Justice. It is the administrative arm of the Department of Justice. Its mission is to support some 40 senior management offices (SMOs), offices, bureaus, and di ...

(JMD) * Tax Division *

Office of Justice Programs The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that focuses on crime prevention through research and development, assistance to state, local, and tribal criminal justice agencies, including law enforce ...

(OJP) *

Office of Legal Counsel The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that assists the Attorney General's position as legal adviser to the President and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the Attorney ...

(OLC) *

Office of Legal Policy The Office of Legal Policy (OLP) is a division within the United States Department of Justice which describes itself as the "focal point for the development and coordination of Departmental policy." In addition to rendering legal advice to the Un ...

(OLP) * Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) Assistant attorneys general report either to the

deputy attorney general The Deputy Attorney General (DAG) is the second-highest-ranking official in a department of justice or of law, in various governments of the world. In those governments, the deputy attorney general oversees the day-to-day operation of the departme ...

(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 The associate attorney general of the United States is the third-highest-ranking official in the U.S. Department of Justice. The associate attorney general advises and assists the attorney general and the deputy attorney general in policies rela ...

(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

Assistant Attorney General

Antitrust Division

Civil Division

Civil Rights Division

Kristen Clarke Kristen M. Clarke (born 1975) is an American attorney who has served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the United States Department of Justice since May 2021. Clarke previously served as president of the Lawyers ...

(2021–present) * Eric Dreiband (2018–2021) * John M. Gore (Acting 2017–2018) * Thomas E. Wheeler II (Acting 2017) *

Vanita Gupta Vanita Gupta (born November 15, 1974) is an American attorney who has served as United States Associate Attorney General since April 22, 2021. From 2014 to 2017, Gupta served as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division under Pres ...

(2014–2017) * Molly J. Moran (Acting 2014) * Jocelyn Samuels (Acting 2013–2014) *

Thomas Perez Thomas Edward Perez (born October 7, 1961) is an American politician and attorney who served as the Chair of the Democratic National Committee from February 2017 until January 2021. Perez was previously Assistant Attorney General for Civil Righ ...

, (2009–2013) *Grace Chung Becker (Acting 2008) *

Wan J. Kim Wan J. Kim (born 1968) is an American attorney and former government official who served as Assistant United States Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice from November 9, 2005, to August 31, 2007. Born in Seo ...

, (2005–2007) *

R. Alexander Acosta Rene Alexander Acosta (born January 16, 1969) is an American attorney and politician, who served as the 27th United States Secretary of Labor from 2017 to 2019. President Donald Trump nominated Acosta to be Labor Secretary on , and he was confir ...

(2003–2005) *

Bradley Schlozman Bradley Joseph Schlozman (born February 6, 1971) is an American attorney who served as acting head of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. A member of the Republican Party, ...

(Acting 2003) *Ralph F. Boyd Jr. (2001–2003) *William R. Yeomans (Acting 2001) *

Bill Lann Lee Bill Lann Lee (born February 5, 1949) is an American civil rights attorney who served as Assistant United States Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division for the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division under President Bill ...

(1997–2001) *

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...

, (1994–1997) *James P. Turner (Acting 1993–94) *

John R. Dunne John Richard Dunne (January 28, 1930 – November 1, 2020) was a Republican Party (United States), Republican politician, and lawyer from Long Island, New York State, New York. Dunne was a major figure in New York Republican politics in the seco ...

(1990–1993) *James P. Turner (Acting 1989–1990) *William C. Lucas (Acting 1988–1989) *William Bradford Reynolds (1981–1988) *

Drew S. Days, III Drew Saunders Days III (August 29, 1941 – November 15, 2020) was an American legal scholar who served as Solicitor General of the United States from 1993 to 1996 under President Bill Clinton. He also served as the first African American Assistan ...

(1977–1980) * J. Stanley Pottinger (1973–1977) *David Luke Norman (1971–1973) *

Jerris Leonard Jerris Leonard (January 17, 1931July 27, 2006) was an American lawyer and Republican politician. He served 8 years in the Wisconsin State Senate (1961–1969) and four years in the State Assembly (1957–1961), representing northern Mi ...

(1969–1971) * Stephen J. Pollak (1968–1969) * John Michael Doar (1965 to 1967) *

Burke Marshall Burke Marshall (October 1, 1922 – June 2, 2003) was an American lawyer and who served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division during the Civil Rights Movement. Early life Marshall was born in Plainfield, ...

(1961–1964) *Harold R. Tyler (1960–1961) *

W. Wilson White William Wilson White Sr. (February 23, 1906 – November 11, 1964) was a prominent attorney in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and served as the first United States Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights D ...

(1957–1960)

Criminal Division

* Kenneth Polite (2021–present) * Brian Benczkowski (2018–2020) * Leslie Caldwell (2014–2017) * Lanny Breuer (2009–2013) * Alice Fisher (2005–2008) *

Christopher A. Wray Christopher Asher Wray (born December 17, 1966) is an American attorney who is the eighth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving since 2017. From 2003 to 2005, Wray served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Crimina ...

(2003–2005) *

Michael Chertoff Michael Chertoff (born November 28, 1953) is an American attorney who was the second United States Secretary of Homeland Security to serve under President George W. Bush. Chertoff also served for one additional day under President Barack Obama. H ...

(2001–2003) * James Robinson (1998–2001) *

Jo Ann Harris Jo Ann Harris (born Jo Ann Marcovitch; May 27, 1949) is an American actress known for her many film and television roles beginning in 1967. In the 1971 film '' The Beguiled'' she portrayed a 17-year-old who seduced Clint Eastwood's character. H ...

(1993–1995) *

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...

(1990–1993) * Edward S.G. Dennis (1988–1990) *

William Weld William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

(1986–1988) *

Stephen S. Trott Stephen Spangler Trott (born December 12, 1939) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Education and career Born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, Trott received a Bachelor of Arts degree ...

(1983–1986) *

D. Lowell Jensen Delwen Lowell Jensen (born June 3, 1928) is an American jurist and former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Education and career Born in Brigham City, Utah, Jensen received ...

(1981–1983) *

Philip Heymann Philip Benjamin Heymann (October 30, 1932 – November 30, 2021) was an American lawyer, federal prosecutor, legal scholar, and law professor who headed the Criminal Division of the Justice Department as Assistant Attorney General during the Ca ...

(1978–1981) *

Benjamin Civiletti Benjamin Richard Civiletti (July 17, 1935October 16, 2022) was an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney General during the Carter administration, from 1979 to 1981. The first Italian American to lead the U.S. Department of Jus ...

(1977–1978) *

Dick Thornburgh Richard Lewis Thornburgh (July 16, 1932 – December 31, 2020) was an American lawyer, author, and Republican politician who served as the 41st governor of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1987, and then as the United States attorney general fro ...

(1975–1977) *

Henry E. Petersen Henry E. Petersen (January 1, 1921 – May 29, 1991) was an attorney and United States federal government official. He served as Assistant U.S. Attorney General during the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations. He also engaged in ethica ...

(1972–1974) * Will Wilson (1969–1971) * Fred Vinson Jr. (1965–1969) * Herbert Miller Jr. (1961–1965) * Malcolm R. Wilkey (1959–1961) *

Malcolm Anderson Malcolm James Anderson (born 3 March 1935) is a former tennis player from Australia who was active from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. He won the singles title at the 1957 U.S. National Championships and achieved his highest amateur rankin ...

(1958–1959) *

Warren Olney III A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Anglo ...

(1953–1957) * Charles B. Murray (1952–1953) *

James M. McInerney James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

(1950–1952) *

Alexander M. Campbell Alexander Morton Campbell (1907–1968) was an Indiana lawyer who served in the United States Department of Justice as Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Criminal Division, formally from August 1948 through December 20, 1949, under Tom C. Cl ...

(1948–1949) *

T. Vincent Quinn Thomas Vincent Quinn (March 16, 1903 – March 1, 1982) was an American jurist and politician from New York. He served as an assistant Attorney General and was elected to one term in the United States House of Representatives. He left Congre ...

(1947–1948) * Theron Caudle (1945–1947) *

Tom C. Clark Thomas Campbell Clark (September 23, 1899June 13, 1977) was an American lawyer who served as the 59th United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 and as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1949 to 1967. Clark ...

(1943–1945) *

Wendell Berge Wendell Berge (1903 – September 25, 1955) was an American business lawyer. He served as head of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice from 1943 to 1947. Early life Berge was born to George W. and Cora Ott Berge in Lincoln, Nebr ...

(1940–1943) *

O. John Rogge Oetje John Rogge () (October 12, 1903 – March 22, 1981) was an American attorney who prosecuted cases for the United States government, investigated Nazi activities in the United States, and in private practice was associated with civil righ ...

(1939–1940) *

Brien McMahon Brien McMahon, born James O'Brien McMahon (October 6, 1903July 28, 1952) was an American lawyer and politician who served in the United States Senate (as a Democrat from Connecticut) from 1945 to 1952. McMahon was a major figure in the establis ...

(1936–1939) *

Joseph B. Keenan Joseph Berry Keenan (11 January 1888, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island – 8 December 1954, in Asheboro, North Carolina

(1934–1936) * Pat Malloy (1933) * E. Nugent Dodds (1931–1933) * Oscar R. Luhring (1925–1930) *

William J. Donovan William Joseph "Wild Bill" Donovan (January 1, 1883 – February 8, 1959) was an American soldier, lawyer, intelligence officer and diplomat, best known for serving as the head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the Bur ...

(1924–1925) * Earl J. Davis (1924) * John Crim (1921–1923) * Robert P. Stewart (1919–1921)

National Security Division

Environment and Natural Resources Division

Ramsey Clark William Ramsey Clark (December 18, 1927 – April 9, 2021) was an American lawyer, activist, and federal government official. A progressive, New Frontier liberal, he occupied senior positions in the United States Department of Justice under Presi ...

(1961–1965) Lands Division *

Jeffrey Clark Jeffrey Bossert Clark (born April 17, 1967) is an American lawyer who was Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division from 2018 to 2021. In September 2020, he was also appointed acting head of the Civil Divis ...

(2018–2021) * Todd Kim (2021–present)

Justice Management Division

* Lee J. Lofthus

Tax Division

Robert H. Jackson Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Unit ...

(1936–1938) *

Mabel Walker Willebrandt Mabel Walker Willebrandt (May 23, 1889 – April 6, 1963), popularly known to her contemporaries as the First Lady of Law, was a U.S. Assistant Attorney General from 1921 to 1929, handling cases concerning violations of the Volstead Act, federal ...

(1921–1929)

Office of Justice Programs

* Laurie O. Robinson

Office of Legal Counsel

Office of Legal Policy

Viet D. Dinh Viet D. Dinh ( vi, Đinh Đồng Phụng Việt; born February 22, 1968) is a lawyer and a legal scholar who is Chief Legal and Policy Officer of Fox Corporation and who served as an Assistant Attorney General of the United States from 2001 to 20 ...

(2001–2003) * Daniel J. Bryant (2003–2005) *

Rachel Brand Rachel Lee Brand (born May 1, 1973) is an American lawyer, academic, and former government official. She served as the United States Associate Attorney General from May 22, 2017, until February 20, 2018, when she resigned to take a job as head of ...

(2005–2007) * Elisebeth C. Cook (2008–2009) *

Christopher H. Schroeder Christopher Henry Schroeder (born 1948) is an American lawyer who served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Biden Administration from 2021 to 2023. He served as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of ...

(2010–2012) *

Beth Ann Williams Beth Ann Williams (born July 14, 1979) is an American lawyer who has served as a board member of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board since 2022 and the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy from 20 ...

(2017–2020) *

Hampton Dellinger Hampton Yeats Dellinger (born April 30, 1967) is an American attorney and political candidate serving as the United States Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy. He was previously a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner and Robinson, Brads ...

(2021–present)

Office of Legislative Affairs

Carlos Uriarte Carlos Felipe Uriarte (born December 10, 1979) is an American attorney who is the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs, assistant attorney general for legislative affairs. Early life and education Uriarte was born on Decemb ...

(nominee) * Peter Hyun (November 2021 – present; acting) *

Helaine Greenfeld Helaine Ann Greenfeld is an American attorney who was the nominee to serve as Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs in the Biden administration. Early life and education A native of Baltimore, Greenfeld earned a Bachelor of Arts ...

(January 2021 – November 2021; acting) *

Stephen Boyd Stephen Boyd (born William Millar; 4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977) was a Northern Irish actor. He appeared in some 60 films, most notably as the villainous Messala in '' Ben-Hur'' (1959), a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for Bes ...

(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 Richard Alan Hertling (born January 25, 1960) is a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Education and career Hertling earned his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Brown University, and his Juris Doctor from the University ...

(2003–2007) * Daniel J. Bryant (2001–2003) * Robert Raben (1999–2001) *

Jon Jennings Jon Paul Jennings (born October 2, 1962) is an American politician and basketball coach currently serving as city manager of Clearwater, Florida. He was formerly the city manager of Portland, Maine, as well as the founder, president, and general m ...

''Acting'' (1998–1999) * L. Anthony Sutin (1998) *

John R. Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Stat ...

(1985–1989) * Robert A. McConnell (1981–1985) *

Patricia Wald Patricia Ann McGowan Wald (September 16, 1928 – January 12, 2019) was an American judge who served as the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) and as a judg ...

(1977–1979) *

Michael Uhlmann Michael Martin Uhlmann (December 29, 1939 – October 8, 2019) was an American political scientist. He was Professor of Government in the Department of Politics and Government at Claremont Graduate University and Claremont McKenna College. Prior ...

(1975–1977) *

Mitch McConnell Addison Mitchell McConnell III (born February 20, 1942) is an American politician and retired attorney serving as the senior United States senator from Kentucky and the Senate minority leader since 2021. Currently in his seventh term, McConne ...

(1975, acting) * W. Vincent Rakestraw (March 3, 1974 – February 1, 1975) *

Mike McKevitt James Douglas "Mike" McKevitt (October 26, 1928 – September 28, 2000) was a U.S. Representative from Colorado. Born in Spokane, Washington, McKevitt graduated from Grant High School in Sacramento, California. He received a B.A. from the Un ...

(1973)

References

{{DOJ agencies

Assistant Attorney General Many of the divisions and offices of the United States Department of Justice 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 ...

Attorney General, assistant