Channing D. Phillips

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Channing D. Phillips

|image = Channing D. Phillips.jpg

|office = United States Attorney for the District of Columbia

|president = Joe Biden

|termlabel = Acting

|term_start = March 3, 2021

|term_end = November 5, 2021

|predecessor = Michael R. Sherwin

|successor = Matthew M. Graves

|president1 = Barack Obama
Donald Trump

|term_start1 = October 19, 2015

|term_end1 = September 24, 2017

|predecessor1 = Vincent H. Cohen Jr.

|successor1 = Jessie Liu

|president2 = Barack Obama

|termlabel2 = Acting

|term_start2 = May 28, 2009

|term_end2 = February 2010

|predecessor2 = Jeffrey A. Taylor (acting)

|successor2 = Ronald Machen

|office3 = Acting United States Attorney General{{cite web |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2017-01487 |title=Executive Order 13762 |website=Federal Register|date=January 19, 2017 }}

|president3 = Donald Trump

|term3 = January 30, 2017

|predecessor3 = Sally Yates (acting)

|successor3 = Dana Boente (acting)

|birth_name = Channing Durward Phillips

|birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1958|03|09}}[https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/distcol-phillips-senate-questionnaire-final Committee Questionnaire][United States Public Records, 1970-2009 (Washington, D.C., 1993-2008)

|birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place =

|party =

|education = University of Virginia (BA)
Howard University (JD)

}}

Channing Durward Phillips{{Cite web|url=https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/download/distcol-phillips-senate-questionnaire-final|title = United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary}} (born March 9, 1958) is an American attorney who served as acting United States attorney for the District of Columbia from March to November 2021. He previously served in the position in a permanent capacity from October 2015 to September 2017 and in an acting capacity from May 2009 to February 2010. He also served as acting United States Attorney General in his capacity as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia for a few minutes to a few hours following the dismissal of Sally Yates on January 30, 2017 pursuant to Executive Order 13762 titled “Providing an Order of Succession Within the Department of Justice” that was signed by President Barack Obama on January 13, 2017 and published in the Federal Register on January 19, 2017.{{cite web |url=https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2017-01487 |title=Executive Order 13762 |website=Federal Register|date=January 19, 2017 }} President Donald Trump signed an executive order naming United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Dana Boente as acting United States Attorney General a few minutes to a few hours after the dismissal of Sally Yates and automatic succession of Phillips to the position of acting United States Attorney General.{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/30/politics/dana-boente-acting-attorney-general | title=New acting attorney general set for brief tenure |website=CNN | first=Theodore | last=Schleifer |date=January 31, 2017 }}

Early life and education

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Phillips earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia in 1980 and a Juris Doctor from the Howard University School of Law in 1986.[https://web.archive.org/web/20170630104418/https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/meet-us-attorney Bio of Channing D. Phillips], U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia

Career

In 1990, Phillips became a trial attorney at the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division in the Organized Crime & Racketeering Section. In 1994, he moved to the United States Attorney's Office in D.C. In 2010, he returned to the Justice Department to serve in the Office of the Attorney General.

In 2015, after Ronald Machen's resignation as U.S. Attorney, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton recommended Phillips for the position.{{cite news |title = Former D.C. top prosecutor joins private law firm |first = Ann E. |last = Marimow| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/former-dc-top-prosecutor-joins-private-law-firm/2016/01/13/5b715e74-ba23-11e5-99f3-184bc379b12d_story.html |work = The Washington Post |date = January 13, 2016}} Phillips was nominated by President Obama to be the next U.S. Attorney on October 8, 2015, and designated acting U.S. Attorney on October 19, 2015. In December 2015, Phillips announced the closure of a long-running and controversial investigation into former Mayor Vincent C. Gray, who was not charged.{{cite news |title = Long-running probe ends without charges against former D.C. mayor Vincent Gray |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/dc-prosecutor-closes-out-probe-of-vincent-grays-2010-mayoral-campaign/2015/12/09/cb3568b6-9bc1-11e5-94f0-9eeaff906ef3_story.html |work = The Washington Post |date = December 9, 2015}}

During the 2017 dismissal of U.S. attorneys, Phillips was not asked to resign because he had not yet been confirmed and remained acting U.S. Attorney.{{cite news |title = Who will replace Channing Phillips as U.S. attorney for D.C.? |first = Colbert I. |last = King |date = March 12, 2017 |work = The Washington Post |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/03/12/who-will-replace-channing-phillips-as-u-s-attorney-for-d-c/}} On June 12, 2017, Donald Trump nominated Jessie Liu to serve as U.S. attorney. She became his successor after the United States Senate confirmed her nomination in September 2017.

On March 3, 2021, Phillips once again became acting U.S. attorney after being appointed by President Joe Biden.{{Cite web |last=Singman |first=Brooke |date=2021-03-02 |title=Channing Phillips to be DC acting US attorney, but Michael Sherwin will supervise Capitol riot probe |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/channing-phillips-to-be-dc-acting-us-attorney-sherwin-to-take-on-overall-supervision-of-capitol-riot-probe |access-date=2021-03-05 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}} His service terminated once his successor, Matthew M. Graves was sworn in.{{Cite web|date=2021-11-05|title=Matthew M. Graves Takes Office as United States Attorney|url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/matthew-m-graves-takes-office-united-states-attorney|access-date=2021-11-07|website=www.justice.gov|language=en}}

Personal life

Phillips is the son of Channing E. Phillips, a minister and civil rights activist who became the first African-American to have his name placed in nomination for President of the United States by a major political party in 1968.{{cite news|last=McQuiston|first=John T.|date=November 12, 1987|title=Channing E. Phillips Dies at 59; Minister and Civil Rights Leader|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/12/obituaries/channing-e-phillips-dies-at-59-minister-and-civil-rights-leader.html}}

References

Category:1958 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century African-American lawyers

Category:21st-century African-American lawyers

Category:21st-century American lawyers

Category:Howard University School of Law alumni

Category:United States attorneys for the District of Columbia

Category:University of Virginia alumni

{{s-bef|before=Jeffrey A. Taylor
{{Small|Acting}}}}

{{s-ttl|title=United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
{{Small|Acting}}|years=2009–2010}}

{{s-ttl|title=United States Attorney for the District of Columbia|years=2015–2017}}

{{s-bef|before=Sally Yates
{{Small|Acting}}}}

{{s-ttl|title=United States Attorney General
{{Small|Acting}}|years=2017}}

{{s-aft|after=Dana Boente
{{Small|Acting}}}}

{{s-ttl|title=United States Attorney for the District of Columbia
{{Small|Acting}}|years=2021}}