United States Department of Justice
Justice Department redirects here. For other meanings of the term, see Department of Justice.The
United States Department of Justice (
DOJ) is a
Cabinet department in the
United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the
law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans (see ). The DOJ is administered by the
United States Attorney General (see ), one of the original members of the cabinet.
Initially the Attorney General was a one-person, part-time job, established by the
Judiciary Act of 1789, but this grew with the
bureaucracy. At one time the Attorney General gave legal advice to
U.S. Congress as well as the
President, but this had stopped by
1819 on account of the workload involved.
In
1867, the
U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, led by
William Lawrence, conducted an inquiry into the creation of a "law department" headed by the Attorney General and composed of the various department solicitors and district attorneys. On
February 19,
1868, Lawrence introduced a bill in Congress to create the Department of Justice. This first bill was unsuccessful, however, as Lawrence could not devote enough time to ensure its passage owing to his occupation with the
impeachment of President
Andrew Johnson.
A second bill was introduced to Congress by
Rhode Island Representative
Thomas Jenckes on
February 25,
1870, and both the
Senate and
House passed the bill. President
Ulysses S. Grant then signed the bill into law on
June 22,
1870. At last, eighty-one years after the establishment of the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Justice was established as it officially began operations on
July 1,
1870.
The bill, called the "Act to Establish the Department of Justice", did little to change the Attorney General's responsibilities, and his salary and tenure remained the same. The law did create a new office, that of
Solicitor General, to supervise and conduct government litigation in the
Supreme Court of the United States.
Various efforts, none entirely successful, have been made to determine the meaning of the
Latin motto appearing on the Department of Justice seal,
Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur. It is not even known exactly when the original version of the DOJ seal itself was adopted, or when the motto first appeared on the seal. The most authoritative opinion of the DOJ suggests that the motto refers to the Attorney General (and thus to the Department of Justice) "who prosecutes on behalf of justice (or the Lady Justice)".
Leadership offices
*Office of the
Attorney General*Office of the
Deputy Attorney General*Office of the
Associate Attorney General *Office of the
Solicitor GeneralDivisions
*
Antitrust Division*
Civil Division*
Civil Rights Division*
Criminal Division*
Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD)
*
Justice Management Division (JMD)
*
National Security Division (NSD)
*
Tax DivisionLaw enforcement and corrections agencies
*
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF)
*
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
*
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
*
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP)
**
National Institute of Corrections*
United States Marshals Service (USMS)
Offices
*
Executive Office for Immigration Review*
Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA)
*Executive Office for U.S. Trustees
*Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management
*Office of the Chief Information Officer
*Office of Dispute Resolution
*Office of the Federal Detention Trustee
*Office of Information and Privacy
*Office of the Inspector General
*
Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR)
*Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison
*
Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
**
Bureau of Justice Assistance**
Bureau of Justice Statistics**Community Capacity Development Office
**National Criminal Justice Reference Service
**
National Institute of Justice**Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
**Office of the Police Corps
**Office for Victims of Crime
*
Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)
*
Office of Legal Policy (OLP)
*Office of Legislative Affairs
*Office of the Ombudsperson
*Office of the Pardon Attorney
*Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR)
*Office of Public Affairs
*Office on Sexual Violence and Crimes against Children
*Office of Tribal Justice
*Office on Violence Against Women
*Professional Responsibility Advisory Office (PRAO)
*
United States Attorneys Offices
*
United States Trustees Offices
Community programs
*
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
*Community Relations Service
Other offices and programs
*Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States
*
INTERPOL, U.S. National Central Bureau
*National Drug Intelligence Center
*
United States Parole CommissionIn
March 2003, the
United States Immigration and Naturalization Service was abolished and its functions transferred to the
United States Department of Homeland Security. The
Executive Office for Immigration Review and the
Board of Immigration Appeals which review decisions made by government officials under Immigration and Nationality law remain under jursidiction of the Department of Justice. Similarly the Office of Domestic Preparedness left the Justice Department for the Department of Homeland Security.
*
United States Assistant Attorney General*
United States Department of Justice website
