If he is confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump's attorney general, former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz will replace Merrick Garland, a onetime Supreme Court nominee who served two prior stints in the Justice Department, worked as a corporate litigator, and served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for more than two decades, including seven years as chief judge. Garland's predecessor, William Barr, likewise had previously worked for the Justice Department, including as attorney general during the George H.W. Bush administration, in addition to earlier legal work at the CIA and in private practice.
Going down the list of attorneys general before Barr, you will see people with extensive legal experience, including former prosecutors, Justice Department officials, judges, and state attorneys general. Gaetz, by contrast, is a 42-year-old graduate of William & Mary Law School who briefly worked for a law firm in Fort Walton Beach before entering state politics in 2010, two years after he was admitted to the Florida bar. He served in Florida's legislature for six years before he was elected to represent the state's 1st Congressional District in 2016.
