Florida Attorney General

Chief legal officer of Florida

Attorney General of Florida

Seal of the attorney general of Florida

Incumbent
Ashley Moody

since January 8, 2019

Department of Legal Affairs
Style| The Honorable
Type| Chief legal officer
Member of| Florida Executive Branch
Florida Cabinet
Seat| Tallahassee, Florida
Appointer| Popular vote
Term length| Four years, renewable once
Constituting instrument| Constitution of Florida
Inaugural holder| Joseph Branch
Formation| 1845
Website| http://myfloridalegal.com/

The Florida attorney general is an elected cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state, and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs.

The office is one of Florida's three elected state cabinet posts, along with the chief financial officer and agriculture commissioner. The current attorney general is Republican Ashley Moody, who took office on January 8, 2019.

## Election and terms of office

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As with other elected statewide offices in Florida, the attorney general is limited to serving two consecutive four-year terms.[1]

The attorney general is second (behind the lieutenant governor) in the line of succession to the office of Governor of Florida.[2][3]

### Removal from office

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The Florida attorney general can be impeached for committing a "misdemeanor in office" by the State House of Representatives, and then convicted and thereby removed from office by a two-thirds vote of the State Senate.[4]

## Powers and duties

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The Florida solicitor general is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the attorney general. The current solicitor is Henry C. Whitaker.[5]

## List of Florida attorneys general

[edit]

Attorneys general by party affiliation  Party  | Attorneys general

|

Democratic | 27
Republican | 10
Whig | 1
#  | Image  | Name  | Term of service  | Political party

|
|
|
|

1  |  | Joseph Branch | 1845–1846  | Democratic
2  |  | Augustus Maxwell | 1846–1848  | Democratic
3  |  | James T. Archer | 1848  | Democratic
4  |  | David P. Hogue | 1848–1853  | Whig
5  |  | Mariano D. Papy | 1853–1861  | Democratic
6  |  | John B. Galbraith | 1861–1868  | Democratic
7  |  | James Westcott III | 1868  | Democratic
8  |  | A. R. Meek | 1868–1870  | Republican
9  |  | Sherman Conant | 1870–1871  | Republican
10  |  | J. B. C. Drew | 1871–1872  | Republican
11  |  | Horatio Bisbee Jr. | 1872  | Republican
12  |  | J. P. C. Emmons | 1872–1873  | Republican
13  |  | William A. Cocke | 1873–1877  | Democratic
14  |  | George P. Raney | 1877–1885  | Democratic
15  |  | Charles Merian Cooper | 1885–1889  | Democratic
16  |  | William Bailey Lamar | 1889–1903  | Democratic
17  |  | James B. Whitfield | 1903–1904  | Democratic
18  |  | W. H. Ellis | 1904–1909  | Democratic
19  |  | Park Trammell | 1909–1913  | Democratic
20  |  | Thomas F. West | 1913–1917  | Democratic
21  |  | Van C. Swearingen | 1917–1921  | Democratic
22  |  | Rivers Buford | 1921–1925  | Democratic
23  |  | J. B. Johnson | 1925–1927  | Democratic
24  |  | Fred Henry Davis | 1927–1931  | Democratic
25  |  | Cary D. Landis | 1931–1938  | Democratic
26  |  | George Couper Gibbs | 1938–1941  | Democratic
27  |  | J. Thomas Watson | 1941–1949  | Democratic
28  |  | Richard Ervin | 1949–1964  | Democratic
29  |  | James W. Kynes | 1964–1965  | Democratic
30  |  | Earl Faircloth | 1965–1971  | Democratic
31  |  | Robert L. Shevin | 1971–1979  | Democratic
32  |  | James C. Smith | 1979–1987  | Democratic
33  |  | Bob Butterworth | 1987–2002  | Democratic
34  |  | Richard E. Doran | 2002–2003  | Republican
35  |  | Charlie Crist | 2003–2007  | Republican
36  |  | Bill McCollum | 2007–2011  | Republican
37  |  | Pam Bondi | 2011–2019  | Republican
38  |  | Ashley Moody | 2019–present  | Republican

## See also

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* Constitution of Florida
* Florida Cabinet
* Florida Democratic Party
* Republican Party of Florida

## References

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1. ^ Fla. Const. art. VI, § 4
2. ^ "Constitution of Florida: Article IV, Section 3". Florida Legislature. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
3. ^ "Florida Statutes 14.055". Law Server. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
4. ^ Fla. Const. art. III, § 17
5. ^ "Florida Attorney General - Solicitor General". www.myfloridalegal.com. Retrieved 2023-04-08.

## External links

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* Florida Attorney General official website
* Florida Attorney General articles at ABA Journal
* News and Commentary at FindLaw
* Florida Statutes at Law.Justia.com
* U.S. Supreme Court Opinions - "Cases with title containing: State of Florida" at FindLaw
* The Florida Bar
* Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi profile at National Association of Attorneys General
* Press releases at Florida Attorney General's office

* v
* t
* e

Statewide political officials of Florida

U.S. senators|

* Marco Rubio
* Rick Scott

State government|

* Ron DeSantis, Governor
* Jeanette Nuñez, Lieutenant Governor
* Ashley Moody, Attorney General
* Jimmy Patronis, Chief Financial Officer
* Wilton Simpson, Agriculture Commissioner
* Cord Byrd, Secretary of State (appointed)

Senate|

* Kathleen Passidomo, President
* Dennis Baxley, President pro tempore
* Ben Albritton, Majority Leader
* Lauren Book, Minority Leader

House|

* Paul Renner, Speaker
* Chuck Clemons, Speaker pro tempore
* Michael J. Grant, Majority Leader
* Fentrice Driskell, Minority Leader

Supreme Court
(appointed)|

* Carlos G. Muñiz, Chief Justice
* Charles Canady
* Jorge Labarga
* John D. Couriel
* Jamie Grosshans
* Renatha Francis
* Meredith Sasso, Justices

* v
* t
* e

Florida attorneys general

* Branch
* Maxwell
* Archer
* Hogue
* Papy
* Galbraith
* Westcott
* Meek
* Conant
* Drew
* Bisbee
* Emmons
* Cocke
* Raney
* Cooper
* Lamar
* Whitfield
* Ellis
* Trammell
* West
* Swearingen
* Buford
* Johnson
* Davis
* Landis
* Gibbs
* Watson
* Ervin
* Kynes
* Faircloth
* Shevin
* Smith
* Butterworth
* Doran
* Crist
* McCollum
* Bondi
* Moody

* v
* t
* e

Attorneys general of the United States

United States Attorney General: ▌Merrick Garland (NP)

▌Steve Marshall (R)

▌Treg Taylor (R)

▌Kris Mayes (D)

▌Tim Griffin (R)

▌Rob Bonta (D)

▌Phil Weiser (D)

▌William Tong (D)

▌Kathy Jennings (D)

▌Ashley Moody (R)

▌Christopher M. Carr (R)

▌Anne E. Lopez (D)

▌Raúl Labrador (R)

▌Kwame Raoul (D)

▌Todd Rokita (R)

▌Brenna Bird (R)

▌Kris Kobach (R)

▌Russell Coleman (R)

▌Liz Murrill (R)

▌Aaron Frey (D)

▌Anthony Brown (D)

▌Andrea Campbell (D)

▌Dana Nessel (D)

▌Keith Ellison (DFL)

▌Lynn Fitch (R)

▌Andrew Bailey (R)

▌Austin Knudsen (R)

▌Mike Hilgers (R)

▌Aaron D. Ford (D)

▌John Formella (R)

▌Matt Platkin (D)

▌Raúl Torrez (D)

▌Letitia James (D)

▌Josh Stein (D)

▌Drew Wrigley (R)

▌Dave Yost (R)

▌Gentner Drummond (R)

▌Ellen Rosenblum (D)

▌Michelle Henry (D)

▌Peter Neronha (D)

▌Alan Wilson (R)

▌Marty Jackley (R)

▌Jonathan Skrmetti (R)

▌Ken Paxton (R)

▌Sean Reyes (R)

▌Charity Clark (D)

▌Jason Miyares (R)

▌Bob Ferguson (D)

▌Patrick Morrisey (R)

▌Josh Kaul (D)

▌Bridget Hill (R)

Federal districts:

▌Brian Schwalb (D)

Territories:

▌Fainu'ulelei Alailima-Utu

▌Doug Moylan (R)

▌Ed Manibusan (D)

▌Domingo Emanuelli (NPP)

▌Gordon Rhea

Political party affiliations

* ▌28 Republicans (27 states, 1 territory)
* ▌25 Democrats (23 states, 1 territory, 1 district)
* ▌1 New Progressive (1 territory)
* ▌2 Unknown (2 territories)
An asterisk (*) indicates that the officeholder is serving in an acting capacity.
State abbreviations link to position articles.

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