| Agency Name: | United States Department of Justice Civil Division |
| Type: | Division |
| Seal: | File:Seal_of_the_United_States_Department_of_Justice.svg |
| Jurisdiction: | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters: | Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building 950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C., United States |
| Chief1 Name: | Brian Boynton |
| Chief1 Position: | Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General |
| Parent Department: | U.S. Department of Justice |
The United States Department of Justice Civil Division represents the United States, its departments and agencies, members of Congress, cabinet officers, and other federal employees. Led by the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, the Division's litigation reflects the diversity of government activities, involving, for example, the defense of challenges to presidential actions; national security issues; benefit programs; energy policies; commercial issues such as contract disputes, banking insurance, patents, fraud, and debt collection; all manner of accident and liability claims; enforcement of immigration laws; and civil and criminal violations of consumer protection laws. Each year, Division attorneys handle thousands of cases that collectively involve billions of dollars in claims and recoveries. The Division confronts significant policy issues, which often rise to constitutional dimensions, in defending and enforcing various Federal programs and actions.
In April 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Javier Guzman to lead the division as Assistant Attorney General.[1] That nomination was withdrawn on July 20, 2021.[2]
The Civil Division is made up of the following offices:
| Name | Term began | Term ended | President(s) served under | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles B. Rugg | 1930 | 1933 | Herbert Hoover | |
| 2 | George C. Sweeney | 1933 | 1935 | Franklin Delano Roosevelt | |
| 3 | Angus D. MacLean | 1935 | |||
| 4 | James W. Morris | 1935 | 1937 | ||
| 5 | Sam E. Whitaker | 1937 | 1939 | ||
| 6 | Francis M. Shea | 1939 | 1945 | ||
| 7 | John F. Sonnett | 1945 | 1947 | Harry S. Truman | |
| 8 | Peyton Ford | 1947 | 1949 | ||
| 9 | H. Graham Morison | 1949 | 1951 | ||
| 10 | Holmes Baldridge | 1951 | 1953 | ||
| 11 | Warren E. Burger | 1953 | 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower | |
| 12 | George Cochran Doub | 1956 | 1960 | ||
| 13 | William Horsley Orrick Jr. | 1961 | 1963 | John F. Kennedy | |
| 14 | John W. Douglas | 1963 | 1966 | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson | |
| 15 | H. Barefoot Sanders Jr. | 1966 | 1967 | Lyndon B. Johnson | |
| 16 | Edwin L. Weisl Jr. | 1967 | 1969 | ||
| 17 | William Ruckelshaus | 1969 | 1970 | Richard M. Nixon | |
| 18 | L. Patrick Gray | 1970 | 1972 | ||
| 19 | Harlington Wood Jr. | 1972 | 1973 | ||
| 20 | Carla Anderson Hills | 1973 | 1975 | ||
| 21 | Rex E. Lee | 1975 | 1977 | Gerald R. Ford | |
| 22 | Barbara A. Babcock | 1977 | 1979 | Jimmy Carter | |
| 23 | Alice Daniels | 1979 | 1981 | ||
| 24 | Paul J. McGrath | 1981 | 1985 | Ronald Reagan | |
| 25 | Richard K. Willard | 1985 | 1988 | ||
| 26 | John R. Bolton | 1988 | 1989 | ||
| 27 | Stuart M. Gerson | 1989 | 1993 | George H. W. Bush | |
| 28 | Frank W. Hunger | 1993 | 1999 | ||
| 29 | 1999 | 2001 | |||
| 30 | Robert D. McCallum Jr. | 2001 | 2003 | George W. Bush | |
| 31 | Peter D. Keisler | 2003 | 2007 | ||
| 32 | Gregory G. Katsas | 2008 | 2009 | ||
| 33 | Tony West | 2009 | 2012 | Barack Obama | |
| 34 | Stuart F. Delery | 2012 | 2014 | ||
| — | Benjamin C. Mizer (acting) | 2014 | 2017 | ||
| — | Chad Readler (acting) | 2017 | 2018 | Donald Trump | |
| 35 | Jody Hunt | 2018 | 2020 | ||
| — | Ethan P. Davis (acting) | 2020 | 2020 | ||
| — | Jeffrey Clark (acting) | 2020 | 2021 | ||
| — | Brian Boynton (acting) | 2021 | present | Joe Biden | |
| Source:[3] | |||||