White House Counsel

The White House Counsel is a senior staff appointee of the president of the United States whose role is to advise the president on all legal issues concerning the president and their administration. The White House counsel also oversees the Office of White House Counsel, a team of lawyers and support staff who provide legal guidance for the president and the White House Office. At least when the White House Counsel is advising the president on legal matters pertaining to the duties or prerogatives of the president, this office is also called Counsel to the President. When initially created, it was named simply Special Counsel.

David Warrington is the current White House counsel, serving since January 20, 2025.

Responsibilities

The Office of Counsel to the President and Vice President was created in 1943, and is responsible for advising on all legal aspects of policy questions; legal issues arising in connection with the president's decision to sign or veto legislation, ethical questions, financial disclosures; and conflicts of interest during employment and post employment. The counsel's office also helps define the line between official and political activities, oversees executive appointments and judicial selection, handles presidential pardons, reviews legislation and presidential statements, and handles lawsuits against the president in his role as president, as well as serving as the White House contact for the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Limitations

Although the White House counsel offers legal advice to the president and vice president, the counsel does so in the president's and vice president's official capacity, and does not serve as the president's personal attorney. Therefore, controversy has emerged over the scope of the attorney–client privilege between the counsel and the president and vice president, namely with John Dean of Watergate notoriety. It is clear, however, that the privilege does not apply in strictly personal matters. It also does not apply to legislative proceedings by the U.S. Congress against the president due to allegations of misconduct while in office, such as formal censures or impeachment proceedings. In those situations the president relies on a personal attorney if he desires confidential legal advice.

Like all similarly appointed positions in the White House and Executive Office of the President, the White House Counsel's office is also quite distinct from and separate to the judiciary. It is also different in type to other senior positions which are not simply presidentially appointed but rather are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. In the legal realm, these would be foremost the attorney general of the United States, and their principal deputy and other assistants, who are nominated by the president to oversee the United States Department of Justice, and the solicitor general of the United States (the fourth-ranking official in the Justice Department) and staff, who argue cases before the U.S. Supreme Court (and in lower federal courts) for the Justice Department when it, or the Federal Government or an officer thereof (including the President), is a party to the case. The White House Counsel does, however, usually act as the primary contact point between the DOJ and the White House.

List of White House counsels

References

External links

Executive Office of the President


* ttp://eisenhower.archives.gov/Research/Finding_Aids/S.html Diaries of Bernard M. Shanley, White House Counsel, 1953-1955, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
Records of Gerald Morgan, White House Counsel, 1955-1958, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

{{EOP agencies

United States presidential advisors

Executive Office of the President of the United States
Presidency of the United States
Counsel
1943 establishments in Washington, D.C.