The Tennessee Supreme Court has chosen Gov. Bill Lee’s chief legal counsel as the state’s new attorney general. Jonathan Skrmetti will begin an eight-year term starting next month.
He’ll be the third attorney general in a row to have recently served as legal advisor for the sitting governor before taking office — though Tennessee is the only state in which the highest court appoints its attorney general.
Court News Jonathan Skrmetti will be sworn in as Tennessee’s 28th attorney general in September.
Skrmetti had formerly served as chief deputy attorney general. He beat out five other applicants, all of whom are white men in their 40s to 60s. Those included Bill Young, the only other candidate to be currently serving in state government, and two recent federal prosecutors.
They underwent formal interviews before the state Supreme Court earlier this week. One justice asked Skrmetti what obstacles the next AG will face.
“The number one challenge is going to be recruitment and retention. We live in a really hot legal market,” Skrmetti said. “So, making sure that you can get people into the AG’s office, it’s always a challenge, and there’s been a lot of turnover lately.”
Current AG Herbert Slatery is stepping down when his term ends this month. He started the clock on Tennessee’s abortion trigger law, and it will then be up to Skrmetti to enforce a new all-out ban after it takes effect Aug. 25.
In a statement, Slatery praised his successor.
“Significant matters like antitrust and opioids are complex and take many years to resolve. It will be gratifying to pass the baton to Jonathan, who as chief deputy saw the initiation of some of these cases, steer them toward resolution,” he said.
Skrmetti is the second Republican to serve in the role since Reconstruction, with Slatery being the first.
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