The Florida Attorney General is an elected cabinet

Florida Cabinet

The Florida Cabinet is a body of the government of Florida that engages in the collective governance of the state.Created following Reconstruction, when there had been a widespread distrust of the governors appointed by the federal government, the cabinet was designed to decentralize authority from...

 official in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state.

The office is one of only three elected state cabinet posts, along with the Chief Financial Officer

Chief Financial Officer of Florida

The Chief Financial Officer of Florida is a statewide constitutional officer of Florida. The office was created in 2002 following the 1998 reforms of the Florida Cabinet....

 and Agriculture Commissioner

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture

The Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services is the head of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services . The position is elected by voters statewide and is one of four members in the Florida Cabinet...

. The current attorney general is Pam Bondi, who took office on January 4, 2011. Her term will expire on January 6, 2015.

Election and terms of office

As with the other two cabinet posts and the office of lieutenant governor

Lieutenant governor

A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...

, there is a limit of two four-year terms for the Attorney General

Attorney General

In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general, or attorney-general, is the main legal advisor to the government, and in some jurisdictions he or she may also have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions.The term is used to refer to any person...

. The Governor of Florida is restricted to two consecutive terms, with no lifetime limit on the number of terms he or she may serve.

The Attorney General appoints the Florida Solicitor General

Florida Solicitor General

The Solicitor General of Florida or Florida Solicitor General is the top appellate solicitor for the U.S. State of Florida. It is an appointed position in the Office of the Florida Attorney General and the individual serves at the pleasure of the Attorney General...

 who serves at their pleasure. The current solicitor is Scott Makar

Scott Makar

Scott Douglas Makar is an American lawyer and college professor who has been the Florida Solicitor General since 2007 and in that position, has argued five cases before the United States Supreme Court.-Early years:...

.

Removal from office

The Florida Attorney General can be impeached

Impeachment

Impeachment is a formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity, the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the removal of that official from office as well as other punishment....

 for committing a "misdemeanor in office" by the State Legislature, and convicted and thereby removed from office by a two-thirds vote of the State Senate.

Office holders

Attorney General	Term of Service
Joseph Branch	1845 - 1846
Augustus E. Maxwell	1846 - 1848
James T. Archer James T. Archer James Tillinghast Archer was an American lawyer and politician from the state of Florida.Archer was the first Secretary of State of Florida, serving from 1845 to 1848. He was Florida Attorney General in 1848...	1848
David P. Hogue	1848–1853
Mariano D. Papy	1853-1861
John B. Galbraith	1861-1868
James Westcott, Jr. James Westcott, Jr. James Diament Westcott, Jr. was a Florida Supreme Court Justice, Florida Attorney General, and a member of the Florida House of Representatives....	1868
A. R. Meek	1868–1870
Sherman Conant	1870-1871
J.B.C. Drew	1871-1872
H. Bisbee, Jr.	1872
J.P.C. Emmons	1872–1873
William A. Cocke	1873-1877
George P. Raney George P. Raney George Pettus Raney was a Florida lawyer and a Democratic politician who served on the Florida Supreme Court from 1885 to 1894. He served as the first Florida native Chief Justice from 1889 to 1894. He was born October 11, 1845. He fought for the South in the Civil War. He served in the Florida...	1877–1885
Martina Ceasar	1885-1889
William B. Lamar	1889–1903
James B. Whitfield James B. Whitfield James Bryan Whitfield was a Florida lawyer, State Treasurer, Attorney General, and long-time Justice of the Florida Supreme Court....	1903-1904
W.H. Ellis	1904-1909
Park Trammell Park Trammell Park Monroe Trammell , an American politician of the Democratic Party, was the 21st Governor of Florida and represented Florida in the United States Senate from 1917 until 1936....	1909-1913
Thomas F. West	1913-1917
Van C. Swearingen	1917-1921
Rivers Buford	1921-1925
J.B. Johnson	1925-1927
Fred H. Davis	1927-1931
Cary D. Landis	1931-1938
George Couper Gibbs	1938-1941
J. Thomas Watson J. Thomas Watson From the years of 1941 to 1949, J. Thomas Watson served the people of Florida as the Attorney General. A respected resident of Tampa, Florida, J. Thomas Watson had 3 sons Patrick Boisseau, J. Tom, Jr. and Dean C.Patrick Boisseau Watson had a career as a colonel in the US Army, Tom Watson, Jr became...	1941-1949
Richard W. Ervin	1949-1964
James W. Kynes James W. Kynes James W. "Jimmy" Kynes, Jr. was an American college and professional football player, lawyer, political appointee and corporate executive. Kynes also served as the Florida Attorney General.- Early life :...	1964-1965
Earl Faircloth Earl Faircloth Earl Faircloth was a former Florida Attorney General and State Representative.He was a politician from the U.S. state of Florida. Earl Faircloth served as the Florida Attorney General from 1965 to 1971....	1965-1971
Robert Shevin Robert Shevin Robert L. Shevin was the Florida Attorney General from 1971 until 1979 and a judge on the Florida Third District Court of Appeal.-Background:...	1971-1979
James C. Smith James C. Smith James Cloudis Smith is an American lawyer. He served as Florida Attorney General, Florida Secretary of State, and is current the Chairman of the Florida State University Board of Trustees.-Early years:Smith received his B.S...	1979-1987
Robert A. Butterworth	1987-2002
Richard E. Doran	2002-2003
Charlie Crist Charlie Crist Charles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician who was the 44th Governor of Florida. Prior to his election as governor, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General...	2003-2007
Bill McCollum Bill McCollum Ira William "Bill" McCollum, Jr. is a former Florida Attorney General. A Republican, he was Florida's 36th attorney general, taking office in 2007...	2007-2011
Pam Bondi Pam Bondi Pamela Jo Bondi is the current Attorney General of Florida.-Early life and education:Bondi's hometown is Temple Terrace, Florida. Her father, Joseph Bondi, was a City Councilman and then Mayor of Temple Terrace. She is a graduate of C. Leon King High School in Tampa, Florida...	2011-