As his eight-year term is set to expire shortly, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III, the first Republican to occupy that position since Reconstruction, recently notified the state supreme court, which is responsible for appointing the state’s chief legal officer, that he would not seek an additional term. Next week, the court will be interviewing six applicants for the position. None in this or any other state is better qualified than Jonathan T. Skrmetti.
Jonathan’s experience speaks for itself. It spans from federal positions to private practice to the office he may be selected to run. He began his legal career as a law clerk to Judge Steven Colloton of the Eighth Circuit and then went on to the Justice Department, where he served both in the Civil Rights Division and as an assistant U.S. attorney in Memphis. His work included prosecutions of sex trafficking, white supremacist violence, and public corruption. He then went on to private practice—at Butler Snow LLP in Memphis—before joining the attorney general’s office in 2018. He served as the second highest ranking official in that office, chief deputy attorney general, before becoming general counsel to Governor Bill Lee in December. On top of everything else, he has taught cyberlaw at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law.
There are several talented applicants for attorney general in the mix, but none has anything approaching Jonathan’s range of relevant experience. And far beyond resume items, I can attest to his brilliance and his integrity as a law school classmate and friend. It was my privilege to know him during his days as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. A long-time member of the Federalist Society and former Memphis chapter president, he has brought to his work an unwavering commitment to originalism and textualism. Clearly, he is the best candidate for attorney general, and I hope the Tennessee Supreme Court agrees.