Paul Joseph McNulty (born January 31, 1958) is an American attorney and university administrator who is currently the ninth president of Grove City College. He served as the Deputy Attorney General of the United States from March 17, 2006, to July 26, 2007. Prior to that, he was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
He was nominated as U.S. Attorney by President George W. Bush and confirmed on September 14, 2001. McNulty was nominated to the position of Deputy Attorney General on October 20, 2005, following the withdrawal of Timothy Flanigan's candidacy. McNulty was sworn into office on March 17, 2006. He replaced acting Deputy Attorney General Robert McCallum Jr. McNulty graduated from Grove City College, a small Christian school in western Pennsylvania, in 1980. He received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the Capital University School of Law in 1983.
As a U.S. Attorney, McNulty is most noted for overseeing the prosecution of a number of high-profile cases, including those against terror suspects John Walker Lindh, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali and Zacarias Moussaoui. Before becoming a U.S. Attorney, McNulty directed President Bush's transition team for the Department of Justice and then served as Principal Associate Attorney General. From 1990 to 1993, under President George H. W. Bush, McNulty was the Justice Department's director of policy and its chief spokesman.
On July 30, 2007, McNulty announced that he would be joining the law firm of Baker & McKenzie LLP as a partner in their Washington, D.C., office.
On May 16, 2014, Grove City College named McNulty their ninth president. He also serves on the board of trustees of the Trinity Forum.
Career before Department of Justice
McNulty started his public career in 1983 "as a Democrat and counsel to the House Ethics Committee, [before] eventual bec[oming] a Republican...."
McNulty served the United States Congress for 12 years. He was Chief Counsel and Director of Legislative Operations for the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was also Chief Counsel to the House Subcommittee on Crime where he served for eight years. During those years he was a principal draftsman of many anti-terrorism, drug control, firearms and anti-fraud statutes. He also served as chief counsel and communications director for House Judiciary Committee Republicans during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.
Career at Department of Justice
McNulty has played a significant role in shaping criminal justice policy in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He was a primary architect of the "Parole Abolition and Sentencing Reform" initiative in 1994, and he served on the board of the Department of Criminal Justice Services and the advisory committee of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
The Washington Post noted: "He helped shepherd John D. Ashcroft through a contentious confirmation as attorney general in 2001 and was appointed the U.S. attorney in Alexandria three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. McNulty, who had no trial experience, presided over a dramatic expansion of that office over the next four years before taking over as Gonzales's second-in-command."
As Deputy Attorney General, McNulty reported to the Attorney General, and served as Chairman of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' Advisory Committee and as Chairman of the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
In December, 2006 McNulty issued Charging Guidelines for Corporate Fraud Prosecutions, which are informally referred to as the "McNulty Memorandum." The guidelines replaced the Thompson Memorandum, which was issued in January 2003 by then-Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, and provides guidance to federal prosecutors in deciding whether to charge a corporation, rather than or in addition to individuals within the corporation, with criminal offenses. Under the Thompson memo, in deciding whether a corporation was cooperating with an investigation, prosecutors were allowed to consider two controversial factors: 1) whether a company would agree to waive the attorney-client privilege in regard to conversations had by its employees, and 2) whether a company had declined to pay attorneys' fees for its employees. The McNulty Memo requires that when federal prosecutors seek privileged attorney-client communications or legal advice from a company, the U.S. Attorney must obtain written approval from the Deputy Attorney General.
On May 14, 2007, McNulty announced his resignation in a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. McNulty's resignation took effect July 26, 2007.