Tennessee Attorney General

The Tennessee Attorney General (officially, Attorney General and Reporter) is a position within the Tennessee state government. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer and lawyer for Tennessee.[1] The current office holder is Herbert Slatery, who was appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court for an eight-year term in 2014 to fill that position. His service officially began with his swearing in by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, a close personal friend whom he had previously served as legal counsel, on October 1, 2014. [2]

Attorney General and Reporter of State of Tennessee
Incumbent
Herbert Slatery

since October 1, 2014
Office of the Attorney General and Reporter
SeatNashville, Tennessee
AppointerTennessee Supreme Court
Term length8 years
Constituting instrumentConstitution of Tennessee
Article VI Section 5
Formation1831
Websitehttps://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral.html

Appointment

Unlike any other state, the Tennessee Attorney General is an officer of the judicial branch, not the executive branch. Article IV Section 5 of the Tennessee Constitution provides for the appointment of the Attorney General by the justices of the Supreme Court for a term of 8 years.[3] In most other states, the office of attorney general is appointed by the governor or elected by voters or the legislature.

Office of the Attorney General

The Attorney General oversees the work and operations of the Office of the Attorney General. In this capacity, he is assisted by various office heads.[4]

Chief Deputy Attorney General - Jonathan Skrmetti

  • responsible for coordinating and supervising the Office's work
  • reviews much of the work done by the Office
  • responsible for general management

Solicitor General - Andreé Sophia Blumstein

Chief of Staff - Jay Dickerson

  • responsible for administrative matters
  • oversees talent management, organizational development, Information technology, fiscal issues, and facilities issues

List of attorneys general

# Name Tenure Party
1George T. Yerger1831–1839
2Return J. Meigs III1839
3West Hughes Humphreys1839–1851
4William Graham Swan1851–1854
5John L.T. Sneed1854–1859
6John W. Head1859–1862
7Thomas M. Coldwell1865–1870
8Joseph Brown Heiskell1870–1878
9Benjamin J. Lea1878–1886
10George W. Pickle1886–1902
11Charles T. Cates, Jr.1902–1913
12Frank M. Thompson1913–1926
13Charles L. Cornelius1926
14L. D. Smith1926–1932
15Roy H. Beeler1932–1954
16George F. McCanless1954–1969
17David M. Pack1969–1974
18Milton P. Rice1974
19R.A. Ashley, Jr.1974–1976
20Brooks McLemore1976–1978
21William M. Leech, Jr.1978–1984
22W.J. Michael Cody1984–1988
23Charles Burson1988–1997Democratic
24John Knox Walkup1997–1999
25Paul G. Summers1999–2006
26Robert E. Cooper, Jr.2006–2014Democratic
27Herbert Slatery2014–presentRepublican

References

  1. Office of the Attorney General and Reporter. "Tennessee Attorney General". Retrieved 2008-12-03.
  2. Scott Harrison. "Cooper out, Herbert Slatery in as Tennessee AG".
  3. "Constitution of the State of Tennessee" (PDF). Tennessee General Assembly. 1870. Retrieved 8 Dec 2019.
  4. "Divisions". www.tn.gov. Retrieved 2019-12-09.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.