Deputy Attorney General: Donald B. Ayer

Donald B. Ayer was the 24th Deputy Attorney General of the United States. He served as the Department’s second-ranking official from November 1989 to May 1990.

From 1986 through 1988, Mr. Ayer was Principal Deputy Solicitor General. Prior joining the Office of the Solicitor General, he was U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California (1981 to 1986) and Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California (1977 to 1979). 

After graduating from law school, Mr. Ayer clerked for Judge Malcolm R. Wilkey of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and then for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States William H. Rehnquist.

Mr. Ayer received a B.A. from Stanford University in 1971. He then received an M.A. in American History (1973) and a J.D. (1975) from Harvard University, where he was an editor of Harvard Law Review.