4 State Attorney General Structure and Control 4 State Attorney General Structure and Control
4.1 Introduction 4.1 Introduction
4.1.1 General Introduction 4.1.1 General Introduction
State attoprneys general have never fit easily into the existing framework of state government. All but two states (Alaska and Wyoming) have rejected the federal model in which the attorney general serves at the pleasure of the governor, and this “divided executive” approach results in numerous possible conflicts as the attorney general attempts to represent the “client,” which could be the state, the governor, the legislature, individual state employees or the "public interest" as defined by the attorney general. Courts are sometimes called upon to decide "who represents the state" in litigation. Finally, within an AG's office, different assistant attorneys general perform different tasks, which can lead them to define the "client" differently from other AAGs in the office.
4.1.2 Detailed Roadmap to Core Readings 4.1.2 Detailed Roadmap to Core Readings
States are quite different structurally from the federal government because most of them reject the federal model in favor of the divided executive, with only 2 (AK and WY) following the federal model in which the governor can select and fire the AG. The governor, the AG, and others all exercise executive power. The Feeney and Deukmejian cases are the two leading approaches on what happens when the governor and AG disagree. Reasonable people can advocate for whatever approach they think is preferable. The Marshall article describes this issue in some historical detail. The DE article shows why it matters if the AG thinks the client is the public interest instead of the state agency.
The following trio of recent cases (Cameron, Berger, and Holcomb) suggest the old ways could be changing and the notion that the AG usually gets to call the shots may not be true tomorrow. The question is whether change is afoot and whether it should be.
In considering the generic AG organizational chart, the following questions for these various positions should be answered -- what type of person would take this job, what are the skills they need for that job, what is their life-work balance, what is their next job, and what are the implications for their view on "who is the client"? This new-found knowledge can be put into practice with a fast-moving hypo entitled "Who is the Client?"