Virginia A. Seitz

Virginia Anne Seitz (born August 1, 1956) is an American attorney who specializes in constitutional law, labor law, employment law and administrative law. She served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the United States Department of Justice from 2011 until stepping down in December 2013. Seitz was confirmed to the post by the Senate in a voice vote on June 28, 2011.

Early life and education Seitz was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on August 1, 1956. Her father, Collins J. Seitz, was a chancellor of Delaware who wrote the 1952 decision in Gebhart v. Belton, which paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education.

Seitz earned a bachelor's degree in 1978 from Duke University, and was a Rhodes Scholar. She earned an BA in 1980 from Brasenose College, Oxford (promoted to an MA per tradition). She earned a J.D. degree in 1985 from the University at Buffalo Law School.

After law school, Seitz clerked from 1985 until 1986 for Judge Harry T. Edwards of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and from 1986 until 1987 for Justice William J. Brennan of the Supreme Court of the United States.

In November 2011, Seitz was included on The New Republic's list of Washington's most powerful, least famous people.

After leaving the Office of Legal Counsel in 2013, Seitz returned to Sidley Austin. President Obama had not appointed a Senate-confirmed nominee to head the OLC, and his previous nominee for the job, Dawn Johnsen, withdrew her candidacy after it languished for more than a year in the face of opposition from Senate Republicans.

On January 5, 2011, Obama nominated Seitz to be Assistant Attorney General for OLC.

The full United States Senate confirmed Seitz in a voice vote on June 28, 2011. However, the decision allowed the use of recess appointments during breaks within a session for vacancies that existed prior to the break, which also had been a matter of contention. The prior United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit opinion in the same case had held that recess appointments were limited to only those vacancies that "happen" to occur during the inter-session break, not to vacancies that existed prior to the recess.

Seitz resigned as Assistant Attorney General, effective December 20, 2013. McLeese served as Assistant to the Solicitor General from 1997 to 1999. Seitz's brother is Collins J. Seitz Jr., the Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court.