State attorneys general occupy a unique place in American jurisprudence. All 13 of the original American colonies had an attorney general, as do all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia today, and they collectively try more cases before the U.S. Supreme Court than any legal entity except for the U.S. Department of Justice.
However, the office is not a monolith: The differences in the state laws that each enforces as well as in the varying relationships with governors, legislatures, and other institutions set each state attorney general apart. But thanks to Harvard Law School lecturer James E. Tierney, the former state attorney general of Maine, a new open casebook (or collection of cases and related material) enables attorneys general to share their experiences in real time — and provides a living text for law school students seeking to understand this definitively American structure.
“When we talk about the office
