Jonathan Skrmetti was sworn in as Tennessee’s 28th Attorney General on Thursday morning at a private ceremony attended by his immediate family.
“It is the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of Tennessee as their Attorney General and Reporter,” said General Skrmetti. “I look forward to promoting the rule of law and advocating for the rights and freedoms of all Tennesseans.”
Attorney General Skrmetti was appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court to serve an eight-year term on Aug.
10. Tennessee is the only state where the Supreme Court selects the Attorney General.
Prior to his appointment, Attorney General Skrmetti served as chief counsel to Governor Bill Lee and as Chief Deputy Attorney General. Before his work on behalf of the state of Tennessee, General Skrmetti was a partner at Butler Snow LLP in Memphis and served as a federal prosecutor for almost a decade, first at the Civil Rights Division and then as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Memphis. He also taught cyberlaw as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.
Attorney General Skrmetti earned honors degrees from George Washington University, the University of Oxford, and Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. Following law school, he clerked for Judge Steven Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. He and his wife and four children currently reside in Franklin and attend Harpeth Hills Church of Christ.