Its roughly 40 components include the U.S. Attorneys who prosecute federal cases in all 94 judicial districts, the Solicitor General who argues for the government at the Supreme Court, and litigating divisions for antitrust, civil rights, tax, environment, and national security.
Open the interactive page for DOJ →Created byAct to Establish the Department of Justice, June 22, 1870 (ch. 150, 16 Stat. 162); office of Attorney General dates to Judiciary Act of 1789, § 35 (1 Stat. 92)
Head appointed28 U.S.C. § 503: "The President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, an Attorney General of the United States." No fixed term (PAS)
Removal standardno statutory protection — at will (principal executive officer; Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52 (1926))
Funded underCommerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (one of the 12 annual bills); permanent appropriations include the Assets Forfeiture Fund, 28 U.S.C. § 524(c)
Congressional oversightHouse Committee on the Judiciary · Senate Committee on the Judiciary
Inspector generalDOJ OIG — PAS IG under the Inspector General Act (created by IG Act Amendments of 1988, Pub. L. 100-504; appointed under 5 U.S.C. § 403(a)); AG may halt investigations touching sensitive national-security/informant matters, 5 U.S.C. § 413(a) (former IG Act § 8E)
Judicial reviewAPA § 702 suits in district court; FTCA tort suits incl. law-enforcement proviso, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h); FOIA with Exemption 7 (law-enforcement records), 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)
Vote for President and Senate; serve on a federal jury; report civil-rights violations at civilrights.justice.gov; ask Congress to defund specific DOJ activities through appropriations.