Alberto Gonzales

Alberto Reynaldo Gonzales (born August 4, 1955) is an American lawyer who served as the 80th United States attorney general from 2005 to 2007. He was the highest-ranking Hispanic American in the executive government in American history until the appointment of Marco Rubio as Secretary of State in 2025. He previously served as Secretary of State of Texas, as a Texas Supreme Court Justice, and as White House Counsel, becoming the first Hispanic to hold that office.

Gonzales's tenure as U.S. Attorney General was marked by controversy regarding warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens and the legal authorization of "enhanced interrogation techniques", later generally acknowledged as constituting torture, in the U.S. government's post-9/11 "war on terror". Gonzales had also presided over the controversial firings of several U.S. Attorneys, resulting in allegations that the office of Attorney General was becoming improperly politicized. Following calls for his removal, Gonzales resigned from the office "in the best interests of the department", on August 27, 2007, effective September 17, 2007.

In 2008, Gonzales began a mediation and consulting practice. Additionally, he taught a political science course and served as a diversity recruiter at Texas Tech University. As of 2024, Gonzales is the dean of Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, Tennessee, where he teaches National Security Law. He was formerly Of Counsel at a Nashville-based law firm, Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP, where he advised clients on special matters, government investigations and regulatory matters.

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