Movin On Up | Kamala Harris’ Brother-in-law Replaces Thomas Perrelli, Becomes Third In Command At DOJ

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder announced today the appointments of Tony West to serve as the Department of Justice’s Acting Associate Attorney General and Stuart Delery as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division.

“Tony and Stuart have served the department with professionalism, integrity and dedication, and both bring a wealth of experience to their new positions,” said Attorney General Holder. “I’m confident they will provide invaluable leadership and will play a critical role in furthering the department’s key priorities and fulfilling its traditional missions.”

West will become Acting Associate Attorney General, the third highest official at the Justice Department, upon the departure of Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli.

West has served as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division since April 2009. In that capacity, West led the Department’s largest litigating division, with a docket including significant national security matters, defending the Affordable Care Act against constitutional challenges, the government’s response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and leading the department’s preemption lawsuits against state immigration laws passed in Arizona, Alabama, South Carolina and Utah.

During his time as Assistant Attorney General, West has bolstered the Civil Division’s affirmative civil enforcement efforts in areas such as health care fraud, procurement fraud and mortgage fraud. Since January 2009, the Civil Division has used the False Claims Act to recover over $8.8 billion in taxpayer money lost to fraud and abuse – the largest three-year total in the Department’s history.

West has also emphasized the Civil Division’s primary role in enforcing the nation’s consumer protection laws and oversaw a reorganization of the Division that led to the creation of the Consumer Protection Branch. Since January 2009, the Division’s efforts to protect consumers from harm have resulted in over 115 criminal convictions and the recovery of criminal and civil penalties and restitution of more than $3.5 billion, which is also a three-year record. In addition, West serves a Co-Chair of the Mortgage Fraud Working Group, the Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group and the Consumer Protection Working Group of the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force.

Prior to serving as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, West was a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster LLP in San Francisco, where he worked from 2001 to 2009.

West was a state Special Assistant Attorney General in California from 1999 to 2001, working on matters including identity theft, high-tech crime, antitrust litigation, civil rights and police officer training.

From 1994 to 1999, West served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of California, where he prosecuted child sexual exploitation, fraud, narcotics distribution, interstate theft and high-tech crime.

West first served in the Department of Justice as a Special Assistant to the Deputy Attorney General from 1993 to 1994.

West graduated from Harvard College and received his law degree from Stanford Law School.

Delery will assume the role of Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division following West’s departure from the Division.

Since August 2010, Delery has served as Senior Counselor to the Attorney General, focusing on civil and appellate matters, including national security litigation, as well as legal policy issues. As a senior counselor, Delery has served as a member of the Department’s Affordable Care Act litigation team.

Delery came to the Department in January 2009 and initially served as Chief of Staff and Counselor to the Deputy Attorney General, advising the Deputy Attorney General on significant civil, criminal and national security matters. Later, Delery served as Associate Deputy Attorney General, focusing on civil litigation and appeals, and coordinating the department’s preparation of the federal lawsuit against Arizona’s immigration law.

Before joining the department, Delery was a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP in Washington, 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’s practice focused on matters involving securities and other financial frauds, internal corporate investigations and complex litigation in trial courts and on appeal.

Delery 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 Eleventh Circuit.

Delery graduated from the University of Virginia and received his law degree from Yale Law School.