Chief Justice E. Riley Anderson of the Tennessee Supreme Court will administer the oath of office to Paul Summers as the state’s 25th attorney general at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 8 in a public ceremony at the War Memorial Building in Nashville.
Summers, 48, of Somerville was named by the Supreme Court Dec. 10 to succeed Attorney General John Knox Walkup, who announced in August he would not seek reappointment to the office. Under the Tennessee Constitution, the court appoints an attorney general to an eight-year term of office.
Summers, a Court of Criminal Appeals judge since 1990, was district attorney general for the 25th Judicial District from 1980 until his appointment to the appellate bench. He earned his undergraduate degree from Mississippi State University and a law degree from the University of Tennessee. He also graduated with distinction in 1986 from the Army Command and General Staff College. He is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and Reserves and is a colonel in the Tennessee Army National Guard.
As attorney general, Summers will represent the state in civil litigation and prosecute criminal cases in the appellate courts. The attorney general also provides legal advice to state agencies and the Tennessee General Assembly.