Evergreen Reporter

As of January 18, 2025, Tara M. Lyons has been appointed as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia under the Vacancies Reform Act. She becomes the first Black woman to hold this position as the chief federal law enforcement officer in the district.

Lyons, who resides in Evans, Georgia, has a diverse legal background. Her career includes roles such as a law clerk for Judge Henry F. Floyd and a Public Defender in Richland County, South Carolina. She also served as an attorney advisor for the Executive Office for United States Attorneys and held positions as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in South Carolina's Criminal Division and Deputy Chief in Georgia's Southern District Criminal Division. Since April 2023, she had been serving as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Throughout her two-decade tenure with the Department of Justice, Lyons has managed various federal cases involving violent crimes, human trafficking, child pornography, and civil rights violations. In South Carolina, she was involved with Project Sentry to prevent gun violence; while in Georgia's Southern District, she coordinated Project Safe Childhood against childhood exploitation and acted as Civil Rights Coordinator handling color of law and civil rights violation prosecutions.

In her new role as Acting U.S. Attorney, Lyons oversees federal law enforcement across 43 counties within Georgia's Southern District—home to over 1.6 million residents—and cities like Savannah, Augusta, and Brunswick. She leads more than 70 attorneys and staff members tasked with prosecuting federal crimes and defending civil cases on behalf of the United States government.