United States Attorney General

The United States Attorney General heads the United States Department of Justice. He or she is appointed by the President, but the appointment must be confirmed by the Senate. Eric Holder has been appointed by Barack Obama, but, as of January 22, 2009, had not yet been confirmed.

Considered the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, the position is a powerful one, and the nominee is sometimes a political loyalist rather than a legal scholar, law enforcement professional, or judge. Part of the power of the office is that the Attorney General's signature can authorize certain investigative techniques comparable to those that might otherwise need a judicial warrant.

Second to the Attorney General is the Deputy Attorney General, and then the Solicitor General, who argues cases, for the United States government, before the Supreme Court. In some cases, such as Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus when ordered by Richard Nixon to dismiss the Special Prosecutor, the officials have resigned rather than carry out an order they believed illegal.