Mark Leonard Shurtleff (born August 9, 1957) is an American attorney, former three-term Utah Attorney General, and founder of the Shurtleff Law Firm and the Shurtleff Group. He was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Troutman Sanders and served as a Salt Lake County Commissioner prior to being elected as Attorney General of the state of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Education and early career

Shurtleff attended

Brighton High School (Cottonwood Heights, Utah) Brighton High School in Cottonwood Heights, Utah is located about south of Salt Lake City. It serves students in grades 9-12 for the Canyons School District. Notable alumni * Jackson Barton - NFL offensive tackle * Cody Barton - NFL linebacker ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

University of Utah College of Law The S.J. Quinney College of Law is the professional graduate law school of the University of Utah. Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, the school was established in 1913. It is a member of the Association of American Law Schools and is accredited b ...

, and

University of San Diego School of Law The University of San Diego School of Law (USD Law) is the law school of the University of San Diego, a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1954, the law school has held ABA approval since 1961. I ...

. Shurtleff served as a

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

in Peru. He served four years in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as a

Judge Advocate General Corps The Judge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, is the military justice branch or specialty of the United States Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called jud ...

(JAG).

Career

Shurtleff was the Deputy County Attorney and a Commissioner of

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The cou ...

and later became an Assistant Attorney General for the state of Utah. Shurtleff was elected Attorney General in November 2000, and re-elected in 2004 and 2008. He is the first Attorney General in Utah to win re-election for a third term. As Attorney General, Shurtleff issued an official legal opinion stating that under a second law (HB174), private school vouchers would still be funded even if voters rejected the primary voucher bill (HB 148) in a November referendum. In May 2007, Shurtleff testified before the

United States Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, ...

as a Republican in support of the Constitutionality of granting full representation in Congress for residents of Washington DC. That year Shurtleff co-founded the Utah Meth Cops Project and raised money to provide detoxification treatment to police officers. On May 12, 2009, Shurtleff disclosed, via a Twitter message, that he planned to enter the 2010 Republican primary. On November 4, 2009, Shurtleff ended his campaign for U.S. Senate in order to spend more time with his daughter, who was experiencing health problems. That year, he co-founded the Utah Pharmaceutical Drug Crime Project, an unprecedented multi-agency, multi-disciplinary task force to combat the serious problem of prescription drug abuse. Partners included the

DEA The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within the U.S. It is the lead agency for domestic en ...

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

, Utah Departments of Public Safety and Human Services, and the

Salt Lake City Police Department The Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD) is the police department of Salt Lake City, Utah. History The SLCPD was founded in 1851, under a then newly created City Charter, when the Mayor authorized a police department to be created and forty ...

. In September 2010, Shurtleff testified before the House Judiciary Committee in support of the Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness Act,Hearing on: H.R. 5034, the "Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness (CARE) Act of 2010"
from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which includes
transcript of Shurtleff's prepared remarks
an act that seeks to reverse the effects of Granholm v. Heald, a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled unconstitutional state laws that permitted in-state wineries to ship wine directly to consumers, but prohibited out-of-state wineries from doing the same. Shurtleff's remarks were drafted by the general counsel of the

National Beer Wholesalers Association The National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) is a trade association that represents the interests of more than 2,850 beer distributors throughout the United States before government and the public. In 2020, their political action committee was ...

. In April 2013, Shurtleff testified before the

in support of comprehensive immigration reform during the Hearing on the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, S.744 In February, 2013, Shurtleff spoke on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on "The Role of State Attorneys General in Enforcing Federal Law" to Congressional staffers at the Civil Justice Caucus Academy run by

George Mason University School of Law The Antonin Scalia Law School (previously George Mason University School of Law) is the law school of George Mason University, a public research university in Virginia. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., a ...

In July 2015, Mark Shurtleff, with his brother Kevin Shurtleff, started a business called MicromistNOW. The company's first product is the QuickNic Nicotine Inhaler. While attorney general Shurtleff made multiple public statements critical of the tobacco industry.

Allegations of criminal misconduct

In 2008 several articles from local news sources accused Shurtleff of corruption and bribery regarding his prosecutorial decisions. These allegations were investigated by the

but 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 Stat ...

took no action. In 2014 Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill filed 10 felony charges against Shurtleff. Davis County District Attorney Troy Rawlings took over the Shurtleff prosecution when Shurtleff's criminal case was severed from former Attorney General John Swallow's. In July 2016 the state criminal charges against Shurtleff were dismissed on a motion by the state.

Election history

Personal life

Shurtleff is divorced with five children and eight grandchildren. He is an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle S ...

and is fluent in Spanish. Shurtleff was honored by the Boys and Girls Clubs with their 2012 Living Legacy Award. Shurtleff was divorced on November 6, 2019 Shurtleff married Melinda (Clegg) Worley on January 23, 2020.

References

External links

Official site of Utah Attorney General
from the Deseret News
Information Sheet
from

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

MARK SHURTLEFF BIOGRAPHYLinkedIn Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shurtleff, Mark 1957 births Living people S.J. Quinney College of Law alumni Latter Day Saints from Utah Brigham Young University alumni Utah Attorneys General Utah lawyers Utah Republicans University of San Diego School of Law alumni United States Navy officers 2008 United States presidential electors American Mormon missionaries in Peru 20th-century Mormon missionaries