As someone living in the UK, what role do U.S. attorneys fulfill? What is their job? No pithy answers please.?

Question

I see that there is a row over US Attorney's being dismissed allegedly without cause. In the UK, judges can't be sacked once appointed and we have no state prosecutors (yet). Do US Attorney's perform a similar function to Judges? Or are they state prosecutors? If so, what do they prosecute? Do they represent the state in lawsuits?

Answer 1

In the United States the prosecutors (lawyers) may be known by any of several names depending on the legal jurisdiction e.g. County Attorney, County Prosecutor, State Attorney, State's Attorney, State Prosecutor, Commonwealth's Attorney (in Virginia and Kentucky), District Attorney, District Attorney General (in Tennessee), City Attorney, City Prosecutor or U.S. Attorney and may be either appointed or elected.

The role of United States Attorney is to represent the U.S. federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals.

The US Attorney is a lawyer, no a judge.The justices (judges) are appointed for life by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and various "lower" or "inferior courts," among which are the United States Courts of Appeals and the United States District Courts.

The US Attorney is a federal Prosecutor, not a state Prosecutor. The State's Prosecutor (also called State Attorney, District Attorney, Commonwealth's Attorney, County Attorney, County Prosecutor, Prosecuting Attorney (Prosecutor) or Solicitor (South Carolina only)) is an appointed or elected official (lawyer) of each state, and is often the chief law enforcement officer of his or her respective county circuit or district.

Hope this help you, Good luck.