Benjamin Richard Civiletti (July 17, 1935 – October 16, 2022) was an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney General during the Carter administration, from 1979 to 1981.

Civiletti was raised in nearby Lake Mahopac and Shrub Oak and attended the Washington Irving High School which was in Tarrytown.

He then became an assistant United States Attorney in Baltimore a year after graduating from law school, serving in that capacity until 1964.

[10] In February 1977, Carter nominated Civletti to succeed Richard Thornburgh as United States Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division.

[5] He was appointed to the Justice Department's top position on July 19, 1979,[13] becoming the first Italian American to assume the role of attorney general.

[18] He also argued before the Supreme Court in support of the government's right to denaturalize Nazi war criminals in Fedorenko v. United States.

[19] Opinions which were written by Civiletti while he was attorney general, interpreted the United States Constitution and U.S. federal law to say that government cannot operate until Congress agrees on a spending bill.