Sally Yates

Sally Yates
Acting United States Attorney General
In office
January 20, 2017 – January 30, 2017
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byLoretta Lynch
Succeeded byDana Boente (acting)
36th United States Deputy Attorney General
In office
January 10, 2015 – January 30, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
Donald Trump
Preceded byJames M. Cole
Succeeded byRod Rosenstein
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia
In office
March 10, 2010 – January 10, 2015
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byDavid Nahmias
Succeeded byJohn A. Horn
In office
Acting: July 1, 2004 – December 1, 2004
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byWilliam S. Duffey Jr.
Succeeded byDavid Nahmias
Personal details
Born
Sally Caroline Quillian

(1960-08-20) August 20, 1960 (age 64)
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseComer Yates
Children2
EducationUniversity of Georgia (BA, JD)

Sally Quillian Yates (born Sally Caroline Quillian; August 20, 1960[1]) is an American lawyer. From 2010 to 2015, she was United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. In 2015, she was appointed United States Deputy Attorney General by President Barack Obama. Following the inauguration of President Donald Trump and the departure of Attorney General Loretta Lynch on January 20, 2017, Yates served as Acting Attorney General for 10 days.

Trump dismissed Yates for insubordination on January 30, after she instructed the Justice Department not to make legal arguments defending Executive Order 13769, which temporarily banned the admission of refugees and barred travel from certain Muslim-majority countries (later to include North Korea and Venezuela) on the grounds that terrorists were using the U.S. refugee resettlement program to enter the country. The ban was labeled as a "Muslim ban" by both Trump and his campaign's website.[2][3] Rather than defend it, Yates stated the order was neither defensible in court nor consistent with the Constitution.[4][5] Although large portions of the order were initially blocked by federal courts, the Supreme Court ultimately upheld a revised version.[6]

Following her dismissal, Yates returned to private practice. She was considered a candidate for Attorney General in the Biden administration.[7]

  1. ^ Vernoica Stracqualursi (May 8, 2017). "Everything you need to know about former acting Attorney General Sally Yates". ABC News.
  2. ^ Johnson, Jenna (December 7, 2015). "Trump calls for 'total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States'". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  3. ^ Barbash, Fred (May 9, 2017). "Muslim ban language suddenly disappears from Trump campaign website after Spicer questioned". Washington Post. Retrieved July 30, 2019.
  4. ^ Perez, Evan; Diamond, Jeremy (January 30, 2017). "Trump fires acting AG after she declines to defend travel ban". CNN. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Landler was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ de Vogue, Ariane; Stracqualursi, Veronica (June 27, 2018). "Supreme Court upholds travel ban". CNN. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  7. ^ Barrett, Devlin; Zapotosky, Matt. "Biden searches for attorney general to restore Justice Dept.'s independence, refocus on civil rights". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved November 26, 2020.