United States Deputy Attorney General

Deputy Attorney General of the United States of America

Incumbent
Sally Quillian Yates (Acting)

since January 10, 2015
U.S. Department of Justice
Reports to United States Attorney General
Appointer President of the United States
with advice and consent of the Senate
Formation May 24, 1950
First holder A. Devitt Vanech
Salary Executive Schedule, Level II
Website www.justice.gov/dag

The United States Deputy Attorney General is the second-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. In the United States federal government, the Deputy Attorney General oversees the day-to-day operation of the Department of Justice, and may act as Attorney General during the absence of the Attorney General. The Deputy Attorney General is appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate. The position was created in 1950.[1]

Since January 2015, the Acting Deputy Attorney General has been Sally Quillian Yates. On January 8, 2015, President Obama nominated Yates to become the next Deputy Attorney General, with her duties beginning on January 10.[2]

2007 Turnover

On May 14, 2007 Paul McNulty, then Deputy Attorney General, announced his resignation in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.[3] At the time, McNulty was considered "the highest-ranking Bush administration casualty in the furor over the firing of U.S. attorneys." [4] Later, Gonzales himself would resign.

On July 18, 2007 President Bush announced his appointment of Craig S. Morford as acting Deputy Attorney General. Morford had been serving as the U.S. attorney in Nashville, Tennessee, and was known for his successful prosecution of former Ohio Representative James Traficant on bribery charges.[5]

List of United States Deputy Attorneys General

# Name Term Began Term Ended President(s) served under
1 A. Devitt Vanech 1951 1952 Harry S. Truman
2 Ross L. Malone 1952 1953
3 William P. Rogers 1953 1957 Dwight D. Eisenhower
4 Lawrence E. Walsh 1957 1960
5 Byron White 1961 1962 John F. Kennedy
6 Nicholas Katzenbach 1962 1964
Lyndon B. Johnson
7 Ramsey Clark 1965 1967
8 Warren Christopher 1967 1969
9 Richard G. Kleindienst 1969 1972 Richard Nixon
10 Ralph E. Erickson 1972 1973
11 Joseph Sneed 1973 1973
12 William Ruckelshaus 1973 1973
13 Laurence Silberman 1974 1975 Gerald Ford
14 Harold R. Tyler, Jr. 1975 1977
15 Peter F. Flaherty 1977 1978 Jimmy Carter
16 Benjamin R. Civiletti 1978 1979
17 Charles B. Renfrew 1980 1981
18 Edward C. Schmults 1981 1984 Ronald Reagan
19 Carol E. Dinkins 1984 1985
20 D. Lowell Jensen 1985 1986
21 Arnold I. Burns 1986 1988
22 Harold G. Christensen 1988 1989
23 Donald B. Ayer 1989 1990 George H.W. Bush
24 William P. Barr 1990 1991
25 George J. Terwilliger III 1992 1993
26 Philip B. Heymann 1993 1994 Bill Clinton
27 Jamie Gorelick 1994 1997
28 Eric Holder 1997 2001
29 Larry Thompson 2001 2003 George W. Bush
30 James Comey 2003 2005
31 Paul McNulty 2005 2007
- Craig Morford (acting) 2007 2008
32 Mark Filip 2008 2009
33 David W. Ogden 2009 2010 Barack Obama
- Gary Grindler (acting) 2010 2010
34 James M. Cole 2010 2015
- Sally Quillian Yates (acting) 2015

Notes

  1. "DOJ: JMD: MPS: Functions Manual: Attorney General". Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  2. "Presidential Nominations Sent to the Senate", White House, January 8, 2015
  3. "Paul McNulty's Resignation Letter" (PDF). Washington Post. May 14, 2007. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  4. Lara Jakes Jordan, The Associated Press (May 14, 2007). "McNulty, Justice Dept. No. 2, Resigning". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  5. Lara Jakes Jordan, The Associated Press (July 20, 2007). "Bush Picks Justice No. 2". Fox News. Retrieved 2009-01-25.

External links