State attorney general

The concept of a state attorney general originates with the attorneys general of the Thirteen Colonies, who in turn were modeled after the Attorney General for England and Wales. The first recorded appointment of an attorney general in the colonies was Virginia's appointment of Richard Lee I in 1643. A few states were slow to establish the office. Vermont's 1793 constitution mentions an attorney general but the legislature did not actually pass legislation to implement that constitutional provision until 1904. Some states went through the odd exercise of creating the office, abolishing it, then reestablishing it. Specifically, Illinois (1848–1867), Indiana (1826–1855), Maryland (1851–1864), and Massachusetts (1843–1849) all went through periods of disestablishing and reestablishing their state attorney general offices. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all the inhabited federal territories now have an attorney general or chief legal officer. ==Selection==

The most prevalent method of selecting a state's attorney general is by popular election. 43 states have an elected attorney general. Elected attorneys general serve a four-year term, except in Vermont, where the term is two years. Seven states do not popularly elect an attorney general. In Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Wyoming, the attorney general is appointed by the governor. In Puerto Rico, the attorney general is officially called the secretary of justice, but is commonly known as the Puerto Rico attorney general. Many states have passed term limits limiting the selection to 2 consecutive terms (9 states); 2 terms maximum (4 states), but 33 states have no term limits. ==Duties==

The specific duties of a state attorney general vary significantly from state to state, but there are several duties common to most offices: • Control of litigation involving the state (representing the state at the trial and appellate levels in various types of litigation); • Chief legal officer of the state (chief legal advisor to the governor and various state government agencies); • Public advocacy (i.e., child support enforcement, consumer protection, state-level antitrust enforcement, utilities regulation, and crime victim advocacy); and • Setting public policy (invoking the authority of the statewide office as a platform to "speak with authority and influence on major questions" involving law and justice). ==Organization==

Two of the most common management models for organizing a state attorney general office are the "chief deputy model" and the "multideputy cabinet model". In the "chief deputy model", the state attorney general delegates supervisory authority over all substantive divisions to a chief deputy attorney general, who acts as the de facto chief executive officer and presides over executive committee meetings. In the "multideputy cabinet model", there is no chief deputy. The office's substantive divisions are consolidated under a small number of first assistant or chief assistant attorneys general who together form the office's executive committee and function as a de facto cabinet to the state attorney general. ==Current attorneys general==

The current party composition of the state attorneys general is: • 23 Democrats • 26 Republicans The composition for the District of Columbia and the 5 populated territories is: • 2 Democrats • 1 Republican • 2 Non-partisan • 1 New Progressive Rows of the attorney general table below are color coded indicating the political party of the office holder. ==See also==