| Roy Cooper | |
|---|---|
| 49th North Carolina Attorney General | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 6, 2001 |
|
| Governor | Mike Easley (2001–2009) Beverly Perdue (2009–present) |
| Preceded by | Mike Easley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 13, 1957 Nash County, North Carolina |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Kristin Cooper |
| Alma mater | University of North Carolina School of Law (J.D.) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (B.A.) |
Roy Asberry Cooper, III (born June 13, 1957)[1] is the current North Carolina Attorney General. He is a member of the North Carolina Democratic Party.
Contents |
Born in Nash County, North Carolina, Cooper was raised in a rural community and worked in tobacco fields during the summer as a teenager. He received the Morehead Scholarship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, serving as the president of the university's Young Democrats, and then also earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from UNC.
Cooper has a wife, Kristin, and three daughters, Hilary, Natalie, and Claire.
After practicing law with his family's law firm for a number of years, Cooper was elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1986 and named to the North Carolina Senate in 1991. In 1997, he was elected Democratic Majority Leader of the state Senate. He continued to practice law as the managing partner of the law firm Fields & Cooper in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Cooper was elected North Carolina Attorney General in November 2000 and took office on January 6, 2001; he was re-elected for a second term in 2004. Cooper was mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for North Carolina governor in 2008, but he decided to run for re-election as Attorney General instead.[2] He was easily re-elected, garnering more votes than any other statewide candidate in the November 2008 elections.[3] Both state and national Democrats attempted to recruit him to run against Republican Senator Richard Burr in 2010, but he declined.[4]
Cooper's third term has been highlighted by controversy surrounding the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation.[5] His political consultant announced in 2011 that Cooper would seek a fourth term in 2012.[6]
Cooper argued his first case before the United States Supreme Court, J. D. B. v. North Carolina, in 2011.[7][8] The Court ruled 5–4 against North Carolina.[9]
In January 2007, when Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong asked to be recused from dealing with the Duke lacrosse case, Attorney General Cooper's office assumed responsibility for the case. On April 11, 2007, Cooper dismissed the case against the Duke lacrosse team players, declaring them "Innocent" and victims of "a tragic rush to judgment."
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mike Easley |
North Carolina Attorney General 2001–present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||