The Attorney General Should Not be Appointed by the President

The office of Attorney General has been a political, not legal, position for far too long.

As we elect attorneys general in nearly every state, we should elect the U.S. Attorney General. An elected attorney general would be independent of the White House he or she could not be fired by the President. The elected attorney general would be responsible to the people who elected him or her. As the FBI is part of the Justice Department, the elected attorney general would appoint the head of the Bureau.

Of the 50 state attorneys general, 43 are elected. In five states, the attorney general is appointed by the governor (Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wyoming). In Maine, the attorney general is selected by secret ballot of the legislature and in Tennessee, the state Supreme Court appoints the attorney general.

Let the people decide who should enforce our laws. An independent elected Attorney General would no longer be the president's puppet, crony or brother. An independent Attorney General would appoint all of the U.S. attorneys without any political assistance from the president or senators. An independent Justice Department and an independent FBI would investigate alleged crimes committed by occupants of the White House without fear of being fired and this would improve the public's level of confidence in the fairness of the legal system.

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