Fadwa A. Hammoud is the former Chief Deputy Attorney General of Michigan and the former

Solicitor General of Michigan The Michigan Solicitor General or Solicitor General of Michigan is the top appellate lawyer for the State of Michigan. It is an appointed position in the Office of the Michigan Attorney General, with supervision over all of the office's major ap ...

Early life and education

At age 11, Hammoud emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

from

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. Hammoud graduated from

Fordson High School Fordson High School is a secondary school located in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, in Metro Detroit. It was completed in 1928 on a parcel of land which was then the village of Fordson, named for Henry Ford and his son Edsel Ford. It is a pa ...

. Hammoud earned a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in political science and communications from the

University of Michigan–Dearborn The University of Michigan–Dearborn (UM-Dearborn) is a public university in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1959 with a gift from the Ford Motor Company, it was initially known as the Dearborn Center, operating as a remote branc ...

and a J.D. from

Wayne State University Law School Wayne State University Law School (Wayne Law) is the law school of Wayne State University in Detroit. Wayne Law is located in Midtown, Detroit's Cultural Center. Founded in 1927, the law school offers juris doctor (J.D.), master of laws (LL.M.), ...

. In 2018, Hammoud was a member of the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

's Young American Leaders Program.

Career

Hammoud has clerked for

United States District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...

Judge George Steeh. Hammoud has also served as assistant prosecuting attorney for

Wayne County, Michigan Wayne County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2020, the United States census placed its population at 1,793,561, making it the List of the most populous counties in the United States, 19th ...

and as leading prosecutting attorney for Wayne County. On November 8, 2016, Hammoud was elected as a member of Dearborn Board of Education. In January 2019, Hammoud was appointed by

Michigan Attorney General The attorney general of the State of Michigan is the fourth-ranking official in the U.S. state of Michigan. The officeholder is elected statewide in the November general election alongside the governor of Michigan, governor, Lieutenant Governor of ...

Dana Nessel Dana Michelle Nessel (born April 19, 1969) is an American politician and lawyer, serving as the Michigan Attorney General#List of Attorneys General of Michigan, 54th Michigan Attorney General, attorney general of Michigan since January 2019. She ...

. On February 18, 2019, Hammoud took the oath of office and was sworn in. Hammoud is the first Arab-American solicitor general in the United States. In March 2019, Hammoud resigned from both the Dearborn Board of Education and as a trustee as Henry Ford College. As solicitor general, Hammoud was put in charge of the

Flint water crisis The Flint water crisis was a public health crisis from 2014 to 2019 which involved the drinking water for the city of Flint, Michigan, being contaminated with lead and possibly ''Legionella'' bacteria. In April 2014, during a financial crisis, ...

investigations. On April 16, 2019, Hammoud fired Todd Flood, a special prosecutor appointed by the previous administration's

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

, claiming he failed to "fully and properly" pursue potentially important evidence in the water crisis criminal cases. Hammoud served as a Trustee and Treasurer of the Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education and the Henry Ford College Board. Former Michigan Governor

Rick Snyder Richard Dale Snyder (born August 19, 1958) is an American business executive, venture capitalist, attorney, accountant, and politician who served as the 48th governor of Michigan from 2011 to 2019. Snyder, who was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, ...

appointed Hammoud to the Commission on Middle Eastern American Affairs. She also served on the Legislative Committee for the Hispanic/Latino, Asian Pacific American and Middle Eastern American Affairs Commissions. In 2018, Hammoud was a member of the

's Young American Leaders Program. On December 7, 2022, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the appointment of Fadwa A. Hammoud as Chief Deputy Attorney General.

Notable cases

In October 2021, Hammoud became the first Muslim Arab American woman to argue a case before the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. The case in question was '' Brown v. Davenport''.

Personal life

Hammoud is

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. She is the first Muslim solicitor general in the United States. Grew up with one brother and is married to prosecutor Ali Hammoud with 2 kids.

References

Living people Muslims from Michigan County officials in Michigan Lebanese emigrants to the United States People from Dearborn, Michigan Solicitors general of Michigan University of Michigan–Dearborn alumni Wayne State University Law School alumni 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-law-bio-stub