California Attorney General

According to the state Constitution, the Code of Civil Procedure, and the Government Code, the attorney general:

• As the state's chief law officer, ensures that the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced.^[4]
• Heads the Department of Justice, which is responsible for providing state legal services and support for local law enforcement.^[5]
• Acts as the chief counsel in state litigation.^[6]
• Works with and provides legal support to law enforcement agencies across the state and may intervene in certain cases, but local district attorneys and sheriffs operate independently.^[4]

Although the office of attorney general dates to the admission of California to the Union, the office in its modern form dates to Proposition 4 of 1934,^[7] sponsored by Alameda County District Attorney Earl Warren as one of four initiatives he sponsored to substantially reform law enforcement and the judiciary. Previously, the attorney general lacked jurisdiction over matters in the jurisdiction of locally elected district attorneys and sheriffs.^[8] Warren went on to become attorney general himself in 1938, reorganizing's the state's law enforcement into districts.

Under Robert W. Kenny, the office was complicit in the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, a position it has since apologized for.^[9]

• Stanley Mosk was the first adherent of Judaism to hold the office.^[10]
• George Deukmejian was the first Armenian American to hold the office.
• Kamala Harris was the first woman, the first African American, the first Asian American and the first West Indian American to hold the office.^[11]
• Xavier Becerra was the first Latino to hold the office.^[12]
• Rob Bonta is the first Filipino American to hold the office.^[13]

• Impeachment in California