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United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. It is administered by the United States Attorney General, one of the original members of the cabinet.

History

Initially the Attorney General was a one-person, part-time job, established by the Judiciary Act of 1789, but this grew with the bureaucracy. At one time the Attorney General gave legal advice to U.S. Congress as well as the President, but this had stopped by 1819 on account of the workload involved.

In 1867, the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, led by William Lawrence, conducted an inquiry into the creation of a "law department" headed by the Attorney General and composed of the various department solicitors and district attorneys. On February 19, 1868, Lawrence introduced a bill in Congress to create the Department of Justice. This first bill was unsuccessful, however, as Lawrence could not devote enough time to ensure its passage owing to his occupation with the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.

At last, eighty-one years after the establishment of the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Justice was established. A second bill was introduced to Congress by Rhode Island Representative Thomas Jenckes on February 25, 1870, and both the Senate and House passed the bill. President Ulysses S. Grant signed the bill into law on June 22, 1870. Officially, the Department of Justice began operations on July 1, 1870.

The bill, called the "Act to Establish the Department of Justice", did little to change the Attorney General's responsibilities, and his salary and tenure remained the same. The law did create a new office, that of Solicitor General, to supervise and conduct government litigation in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Various efforts, none entirely successful, have been made to determine the meaning of the Latin motto appearing on the Department of Justice seal, Qui Pro Domina Justitia Sequitur. It is not even known exactly when the original version of the DOJ seal itself was adopted, or when the motto first appeared on the seal. The most authoritative opinion of the DOJ suggests that the motto refers to the Attorney General (and thus to the Department of Justice) "who prosecutes on behalf of justice (or the Lady Justice)".

Operating units

* Antitrust Division
* Asset Forfeiture Program
* Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE or ATFE)
* Civil Division
* Civil Rights Division
* Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS)
* Community Relations Service
* Criminal Division
o U.S. DOJ Office of Special Investigations(OSI)
* Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
o Diversion Control Program
* Environment and Natural Resources Division
* Executive Office for Immigration Review
* Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (see also U.S. Attorney)
* Executive Office for U.S. Trustees
* Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
* Federal Bureau of Prisons
o National Institute of Corrections
* Foreign Claims Settlement Commission of the United States
* INTERPOL � U.S. National Central Bureau
* Justice Management Division
* National Crime Information Center
* National Drug Intelligence Center
* National Security Service
* Office of the Associate Attorney General
* Office of the Attorney General
* Office of Attorney Recruitment and Management
* Office of the Deputy Attorney General
* Office of Dispute Resolution
* Office of Information and Privacy
* Office of the Inspector General
* Office of Intelligence Policy and Review
* Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
* Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
o American Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Desk
o Bureau of Justice Assistance
o Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
o Community Dispute Resolution
o Corrections Program Office
o Drug Courts Program Office
o Executive Office for Weed and Seed
o National Criminal Justice Reference Service
o National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
o Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
o Office for Victims of Crime
o Violence Against Women Office
* Office of Legal Counsel
* Office of Legal Policy
* Office of Legislative Affairs
* Office of the Ombudsperson
* Office of the Pardon Attorney
* Office of Professional Responsibility
* Office of Public Affairs
* Office of the Solicitor General
* Office of Tribal Justice
* Tax Division
* U.S. Attorneys
* United States Marshals Service
* U.S. Parole Commission
* U.S. Trustee Program

In March 2003, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service was transferred to the United States Department of Homeland Security. The Executive Office for Immigration Review and the Board of Immigration Appeals which review decisions made by government officials under Immigration and Nationality law remain under jursidiction of the Department of Justice.

The source of this article is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

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