United States Department of Justice
Seal of the United States Department of Justice
|
|
Flag of the United States Department of Justice
|
|
 The Robert F. Kennedy Building in August 2006. The building serves as the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Justice. |
|
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | July 1, 1870 |
| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters |
Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C., United States 38°53′36″N 77°1′30″W / 38.89333°N 77.02500°WCoordinates: 38°53′36″N 77°1′30″W / 38.89333°N 77.02500°W |
| Motto | "Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur" (Latin: "Who prosecutes on behalf of justice (or the Lady Justice)" |
| Employees | 113,543 (2012) |
| Annual budget | $27.1 billion (2013) |
| Department executives |
|
| Website | www |
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government, responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice in the United States, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.
The Department is headed by the United States Attorney General, who is nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate and is a member of the Cabinet. The current Acting Attorney General is Dana J. Boente.
The U.S. Attorney General was initially a one-person, part-time job. It was established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, but this grew with the bureaucracy. At one time the Attorney General gave legal advice to the U.S. Congress as well as the President, but this Congressional advice-giving had stopped by 1819 on account of the workload involved. To supplement their salaries, which until March 3, 1853, were set by statute at less than the amounts paid to other members of the Cabinet, early Attorneys General, while in office, engaged in extensive private practice of law, often arguing cases before the courts in their private capacities, as attorneys for private (paying) litigants.
Following unsuccessful efforts (in 1830 and 1846) to put the Attorney General's Office on a full-time footing, in 1869, the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, led by Congressman William Lawrence, conducted an inquiry into the creation of a "Law department" headed by the Attorney General and also composed of the various department solicitors and United States attorneys. On February 19, 1868, Lawrence introduced a bill in Congress to create the Department of Justice.
...
Wikipedia