Monday, September 19, 2022

The Role of the Attorney General in the Government of the United States | Knight First Amendment Institute//Theodore Olson//1982



The Role of the Attorney General   in the Government of the United States | Knight First Amendment Institute
Memorandum to Attorney General William French Smith by Theodore Olson, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.    February 10, 1982

At your request, I have attempted to synthesize the many facets of the relationship in our constitutional government between the Attorney General and the President and to describe in a few words the responsibilities of the Attorney General to the. Constitution and laws of the United States as well as to the Executive Branch and the President.
The following few paragraphs represent my effort to distill a very complex subject into its essence. The responsibilities of the Attorney General are unique within the Executive Branch. While he is a policy-adviser and servant of the President like other cabinet members, his peculiar role as a lawyer -the lawyer for-the United States -adds a significant additional' dimension to his relationship to the President, the balance of the government, and to its citizens. .While the Attorney General :functions as the lawyer for'the President and the Executive Branch, he is also charged with representing the government of the United States as a whole, including the Legislative Branch. Furthermore, he is subject to the ethical standards of his profession and he is an officer of the Supreme Court. Finally, he is the Administration official with the paramount responsibility for guiding the President in the performance of the President's foremost duty under the  Constitution -to take care that the laws be faithfully executed.

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