Benjamin Civiletti

Benjamin Richard Civiletti (July 17, 1935October 16, 2022) was an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney General during the Carter administration, from 1979 to 1981.

The first Italian American to lead the U.S. Department of Justice, he previously served as the Deputy Attorney General and Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division.

He graduated from Johns Hopkins University receiving a Bachelor of Arts in psychology in 1957.

He attended Columbia Law School and earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore.

Civiletti was a law clerk for W. Calvin Chesnut, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

Civiletti married Gaile L. Lundgren in 1958.

They had three children: Benjamin H., Andrew S., and Lynne T. Civiletti.

Civiletti died on October 16, 2022, at home in Lutherville, Maryland.

He was 87 and suffered from Parkinson's disease prior to his death.

He then became an assistant United States Attorney in Baltimore a year after graduating from law school, serving in that capacity until 1964.

Griffin Bell noticed Civiletti's accomplishments while Bell was forming the Justice Department leadership team for the presidency of Jimmy Carter by his confidant, Charles Kirbo, a law partner of Bell's who had once been involved in a case with Civiletti.

In February 1977, Carter nominated Civletti to succeed Richard Thornburgh as United States Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division.

In 1978, he was nominated to become the Deputy Attorney General.

Civiletti was serving as the Deputy Attorney General when Griffin Bell resigned as Attorney General of the United States.

He was appointed to the Justice Department's top position on July 19, 1979, becoming the first Italian American to assume the role of attorney general.

Although Bell voluntarily resigned, his resignation happened during a major cabinet shakeup in the Carter administration.

Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph A. Califano, Jr. and Secretary of the Treasury W. Michael Blumenthal also resigned on the same day.

Transportation Secretary Brock Adams resigned soon afterwards.

As the US Attorney General, Civiletti argued several important cases on behalf of the U.S. government.

Notably he argued before the International Court of Justice on behalf of Americans being held captive in Iran during the Iran hostage crisis, in the Case Concerning United States Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran.

He also argued before the Supreme Court in support of the government's right to denaturalize Nazi war criminals in Fedorenko v. United States.

Opinions which were written by Civiletti while he was attorney general, interpreted the United States Constitution and U.S. federal law to say that government cannot operate until Congress agrees on a spending bill.

They set the stage for partial government shutdowns in later years.

While serving as Attorney General, Civiletti recommended, and President Carter agreed to a commutation of sentences to time served for four unrepentant Puerto Rican nationalists convicted of shooting five U.S. Congressmen at the U.S. Capitol.

The commutations happened in spite of public opposition from Puerto Rico's governor who believed it would encourage more terrorism.

Beginning in 2001, Civiletti was one of the three members of the Independent Review Board, a board that the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union must answer to when allegations of corruption or organized crime infiltration surface under the terms of a consent decree issued in 1989 by a federal district court judgment.

Civiletti was born in Peekskill, New York.

His father, Benjamin, worked as a grocery store manager; his mother was Virginia (Muller).

Civiletti was raised in nearby Lake Mahopac and Shrub Oak and attended the Washington Irving High School which was in Tarrytown.

Later he was a senior partner in the Baltimore-based law firm of Venable LLP (known until 2003 as Venable, Baetjer & Howard).

He specialized in commercial litigation and internal investigations working at Venable LLP.

On July 10, 2008, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley announced that Civiletti would serve as the chairman of the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment which was set up to study the application of capital punishment in Maryland and make a recommendation on the abolition of the death penalty in Maryland.

On November 12, 2008, the commission voted 13–7 with Civiletti voting with the majority, to recommend that the Maryland General Assembly abolish capital punishment in the state.