Biden sets attorney-general succession order at the Justice Department

President Joe Biden signed a January 3, 2025 executive order setting who could act as attorney general if the attorney general, deputy attorney general, associate attorney general, and officials designated under 28 U.S.C. 508 were unable to serve. The order placed the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York first, followed by U.S. attorneys for the District of Arizona, Northern District of Illinois, and District of Hawaii. It relied on the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and revoked President Donald Trump’s 2017 Justice Department succession order. The action mattered because the attorney general leads federal law enforcement, civil-rights enforcement, criminal prosecution policy, and legal representation for the United States.