The United States Justice Department is one of the executive branches of the federal government. Their main responsibility is to oversee and enforce federal law throughout the country. The head of the department is the Attorney General of the United States, who is nominated by the President of the United States before going through an approval hearing with the United States Senate.
The Attorney General position is one of the oldest positions in the government. It was created in 1789, and as time went on, it grew along with the government and the country. As the responsibilities of the position grew, the need for more staff grew with it. In 1868, the bill to create the Justice Department was introduced to the Senate by Congressman William Lawrence. Unfortunately, the bill failed, and the Justice Department was not created successfully until July 1st, 1870.
The Justice Department is made up of several divisions. These divisions include, the Antitrust Division, the Civil Division, the Civil Rights Division, the Criminal Division, the Environment and Natural Resources Division, the Justice Management Division, the Tax Division and the War Division. The War Division no longer operates and went out of use after the end of the second World War. The last addition to the branches of the Justice Department was in 2007 when the National Security Division was created. Before that, the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department was established in 1957.
The Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice was created to help the federal government work against discrimination on the national level. The Civil Rights Division is devoted to protecting people from being discriminated against based upon their race, national origin, sex, disability or religion. The former leaders of this division of the Justice Department have been known to be prestigious civil rights lawyers. Many of these attorneys have diverse and impressive portfolios of cases, and former executive officer Bob Bratt’s portfolio is no exception.
There are also several law enforcement agencies involved in working with the Department of Justice. These law enforcement agencies operate under federal jurisdiction. Some of these agencies include the US Marshals Service, which was established in 1789 but did not receive full federal agency status until 1974. The Drug Enforcement Administration also operates within the Justice Department. The DEA was formed in 1973 by President Richard Nixon to help enforce drug laws and enhance the government’s drug control efforts. The Office of the Inspector General is the third main enforcement office in the Justice Department. The Office of the Inspector General does not make the news as often as the first two offices. They handle undergoing audits and inspections to prevent fraud and abuse in the Department of Justice operations. Their goal is to act as the police of the Department of Justice itself.
The Department of Justice is one of America’s oldest and most important agencies. The goal of the department and of the people who work there is to help guide and enforce laws to protect the citizens of the United States of America.
