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| Established: | June 22, 1870 |
| Activated: | July 1, 1870 |
| Attorney General: | John D. Ashcroft |
| Deputy Atty. Gen.: | James B. Comey |
| Budget: | $23.4 billion (2004) |
| Employees: | 112,557 (2004) |
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.
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 Congress as well as the President, but this stopped by 1819 due to workload.
Eighty-one years after the establishment of the Office of the Attorney General, Congress reported a bill to establish a Department of Justice. Both the SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the United States Congress, smaller than the U. House of Representatives. Together, they compose the legislative branch of the United States government. Seal of the Senate Each state elects two senators throu and HouseThe House of Representatives is the larger of two houses that make up the United States Congress, the other being the United States Senate. Members Members of the House are elected for a term of two years. Elections alternately coincide with the president passed the bill, and President Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant Order 18th President Term of Office March 4, 1869 March 4, 1877 Followed Andrew Johnson Succeeded by Rutherford B. Hayes Date of Birth April 27, 1822 Place of Birth Point Pleasant, Ohio Date of Death July 23, 1885 Place of Death Mount McG signed it 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)."