Who is Jonathan Skrmetti? The Tennessee attorney general who isn’t scared

Jonathan Skrmetti was just 5 years old, but the moment left a lasting impression on him.

Standing in line at Disney World, a man cut in front of Skrmetti and his dad. The man was much larger than Skrmetti’s dad, but that didn’t stop him from speaking up. He told the man to go to the back of the line.

Rules are rules no matter who you are.

It’s a message that Skrmetti has held with him. He took it with him while he earned undergraduate degrees from Oxford and George Washington before attending Harvard Law School. Now, he is taking that fearless mantra to the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office.

The job hasn’t been without fights since Skrmetti took the oath on Sept. 1, 2022. He has brought up suits against companies like Ticketmaster. More recently, he has targeted the NCAA.

Skrmetti and the state of Tennessee earned a “win” in their antitrust suit against the NCAA with a federal court granting a preliminary injunction regarding the suit. It is another case in which Skrmetti has found success against the NCAA after getting a preliminary injunction regarding multi-transfer rules in December.

The 47-year-old Skrmetti isn’t scared to take on big corporations or governing bodies. In fact, he welcomes it.

“If people can get away with things just because they're bigger and more powerful, that's not the world we want to live in,” Skrmetti said. “But it only works if people stand up. At (the Department of Justice), I sat across the table from murderers, child sex traffickers, neo-Nazi organization leaders. You just get used to talking to people who are ordinarily intimidating. And if you do it enough, they're not. And with the big corporations, it's the same deal.”

State of Tennessee commands respect

Former Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III remembers standing on the fairway golf course in Iowa. Completing his eight-year term as Tennessee attorney general in 2022, he kept hearing Skrmetti’s voice. It was a voice he easily recognized — Skrmetti served under Slatery as chief deputy attorney general.

Skrmetti wasn’t on the golf trip, but he was being talked about. On the adjacent fairway, several other chief deputies and other assistant attorneys general watched as Skrmetti talked to the Tennessee Supreme Court about why he should take over as attorney general.

“I just thought that's so cool that they were that interested in knowing how he's doing,” Slatery said. “Because that's not something that — No. 1, you're not supposed to be listening to something on a golf course where everybody could hear it anyway, but they were listening to see how he was doing, and a bunch of them were pulling for him.”

Becoming attorney general in Tennessee is unique. The position is not an elected position, but it is instead appointed by the Tennessee Supreme Court.

The unique process allows attorneys general, like Skrmetti, to not worry about politics or earning votes. The office is free to pursue cases that are important to the attorney general. Some of those cases prove to be partisan, and he has received political backlash for his role in cases revolving around hot-button topics. For example, Skrmetti’s office received blowback for receiving medical records from Vanderbilt Medical Center regarding transgender patient medical records.

In most cases, though, Skrmetti works on bipartisan issues and collaborates with states regardless of political leaning. It also earns the state of Tennessee extra trust when it enters the room.

“I have a pretty clear runway to just try to do the best I can and do right by the people of Tennessee,” Skrmetti said. “I think that's a big advantage to the state. I think there are a couple different reasons that having the appointment process the way we have it is really good for Tennessee.

“You get somebody who's typically nice and typically a good lawyer, and that makes for a great office culture because no matter who the AG is, they tend to fit a particular mold that attracts people who love public service and want to stick around and stay here for a long time.”

Not having to play politics earns the state of Tennessee a leadership role in many suits while encouraging bipartisan efforts.

Not having to run for office does draw some light-hearted criticism from colleagues, but it comes with a sense of instant credibility.

“I was introduced a couple of times, and your colleagues can make fun of you and that sort of thing,” Slatery said. “They may make fun of you about not being elected and that sort of thing.

“But I had several of them say, ‘We've known and known for a long time when Tennessee walks in the room, there's a real lawyer in the room.’ And General Skrmetti is no exception to that. They recognized that real fast, even when he was chief deputy.”

NCAA on the radar

January’s leak of the NCAA investigation into the University of Tennessee wasn’t the first time that Skrmetti has paid attention to the NCAA.

The attorney general wrote a letter to the NCAA during the investigation into Jeremy Pruitt’s recruiting violations, arguing that a bowl ban should be out of the question given UT Chancellor Donde Plowman cleaned house with a clear motive of legal action if the punishment was too severe.

Even when Skrmetti was chief deputy, then-Attorney General Slatery considered bringing forth a suit against the NCAA. The governing body was investigating one of the state’s institutions and behaving poorly in doing so — an investigation neither Skrmetti nor Slatery could pinpoint due to attorney-client privilege.

“Everybody was twisting themselves in knots trying to do what was right, trying to respond to the investigation appropriately, and they were not being treated well,” Skrmetti said. “And there was just a sense of impunity where the NCAA enforcers, even though they had ostensibly adopted new processes that would make it fairer, were just doing whatever they wanted. And I think that comes from the concentration of power that the organization has. That was on my radar when I took over as the attorney general.”

Being an effective lawyer

Pursuing antitrust suits without fear is one half, but finding success is the other. Skrmetti has generally been successful since joining the attorney general’s office.

That comes at no surprise to Slatery, who brought Skrmetti to Nashville. The Harvard-educated lawyer boasted a background in criminal law and was teaching cyber-related courses at the University of Memphis when he was cold-called about becoming chief deputy.

The plan was for Skrmetti and his family to live in Memphis, his wife’s hometown, forever. Instead, he accepted the job and began commuting back and forth from Germantown to Nashville every week.

Six months later, his family moved to Franklin to plant new roots.

“He made a sacrifice to serve the state,” Slatery said. “He worked really hard. We've worked very, very closely together on the opioids litigation and in a number of constitutional issues. … He just did a great job for us. I have great respect for him.”

Skrmetti quickly earned respect in Nashville, serving as chief deputy attorney general from 2018-21. He applied to fill a Tennessee Supreme Court vacancy in 2021 but did not get the position. He then served as chief counsel to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee until August 2022, when he began the process of earning his current post.

It was a quick transition from private practice and teaching to serving the state of Tennessee. It is also one that has thrust him into the public eye for suits against the NCAA and a host of other work he has done.

With the first win against the NCAA on Friday, it is full steam ahead for Skrmetti and his office in their quest to protect Tennesseans.

“No matter who's on the other side of the table,” Skrmetti said, “if their client did something wrong, they need to be held accountable.”