United States Attorney General Eric Holder welcomed the confirmation last night by the U.S. Senate of Stuart F. Delery as the Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.
“I am pleased to congratulate Stuart Delery on his confirmation as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, an office he has held in an acting capacity for more than a year,” said Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. “During that time, and throughout his service at the Department – including his tenure as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Attorney General and Senior Counselor in my office – Stuart has exemplified the highest standards of integrity and professionalism. He has provided strong and steady leadership in our efforts to advance equality, opportunity, and justice. And I look forward to continuing to work with him as we continue the Division’s critical work on behalf of the American people.”
The Civil Division is the largest litigating division in the Department of Justice and represents the United States in legal challenges to Congressional statutes, Administration policies, and federal agency actions. They concern federal benefit programs; commercial issues such as contract disputes, banking, insurance, patents, and debt collection; international trade matters; enforcement of immigration laws; and civil and criminal violations of consumer protection laws. The Civil Division recovers billions of dollars for taxpayers through its affirmative litigation, such as its enforcement of federal consumer protection laws and its record-setting efforts under the False Claims Act, including cases targeting health care fraud, financial fraud, and fraud against the military. Finally, the Division protects the health and safety of Americans by defending cases related to national security and by enforcing protections for the safety of food and medicines.
Delery joined the Justice Department in January 2009 as Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Deputy Attorney General and later served as Associate Deputy Attorney General. From 2010 until 2012, Delery served as Senior Counselor to the Attorney General and focused on civil and appellate matters, including national security litigation and legal policy issues. He has since served as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.
Prior to his federal government experience, Delery was a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of WilmerHale, where he was a member of the Litigation Department and the Appellate and Supreme Court Litigation Practice Group and a vice chair of the firm’s Securities Department.
Delery graduated from Yale Law School and the University of Virginia. He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Byron R. White and for Chief Judge Gerald B. Tjoflat of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.