Tennessee Attorney General

The Tennessee attorney general (officially, attorney general and reporter) is the chief law enforcement officer and lawyer for the U.S. state of Tennessee.^[2] The office of the attorney general is located at the state capitol in Nashville, Tennessee. The current office holder is Jonathan Skrmetti, who was appointed in 2022 by the Tennessee Supreme Court for an eight-year term. His service officially began when he was sworn in by the current governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, on September 1, 2022.^[3]

Attorney General and Reporter of State of Tennessee
Incumbent Jonathan Skrmetti since September 1, 2022
Office of the Attorney General and Reporter
Seat	Nashville, Tennessee
Appointer	Tennessee Supreme Court
Term length	8 years
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Tennessee Article VI Section 5
Formation	1831
Salary	$196,968 (2021)[1]
Website	Government Website

Appointment by judiciary

Unlike any other state, the Tennessee attorney general is an officer of the judicial branch, not the executive branch. Article VI 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.^[4] In most other states, the office of attorney general is appointed by the governor or elected by voters or the legislature.

Duties

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.^[5]

Chief Deputy Attorney General - Lacey E. Mase

• 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

• oversees all litigation on appeals in the Tennessee Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Court of Criminal Appeals, U.S. Supreme Court, and U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
• oversees all opinions published by the attorney general

Chief of Staff - Brandon J. Smith

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

List of attorneys general

#	Image	Name	Tenure	Party
1		George Shall Yerger	1831–1839
2		Return J. Meigs III	1839
3		West Hughes Humphreys	1839–1851
4		William Graham Swan	1851–1854	Democratic
5		John L. T. Sneed	1854–1859
6		John W. Head	1859–1862	Democratic
–		Horace Maynard	1864	Unconditional Union
7		Thomas M. Coldwell	1865–1870
8		Joseph Brown Heiskell	1870–1878	Democratic
9		Benjamin J. Lea	1878–1886	Democratic
10		George Wesley Pickle[6]	1886–1902
11		Charles T. Cates, Jr.	1902–1913
12		Frank M. Thompson	1913–1926
13		Charles L. Cornelius	1926
14		L. D. Smith	1926–1932
15		Roy H. Beeler[7][8][9]	1932–1954
16		George F. McCanless	1954–1969
17		David M. Pack	1969–1974
18		Milton P. Rice	1974
19		R.A. Ashley Jr.	1974–1976
20		Brooks McLemore	1976–1978
21		William M. Leech Jr.	1978–1984
22		W.J. Michael Cody	1984–1988
23		Charles Burson	1988–1997	Democratic
24		John Knox Walkup	1997–1999
25		Paul G. Summers	1999–2006
26		Robert E. Cooper Jr.	2006–2014	Democratic
27		Herbert Slatery	2014–2022	Republican
28		Jonathan Skrmetti	2022–present	Republican

See also

• Government of Tennessee