Home > West's Encyclopedia of American Law > Cabinet

The counsel or group of advisers of a king or other chief executive of a government. A group of individuals who advise the president of the United States.

The president's cabinet was created by custom and tradition and was instituted by the first president. The heads of each of the executive departments of the government, including the SECRETARY OF STATE, the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of defense, the attorney general, the secretary of the interior, the secretary of agriculture, the secretary of commerce, the secretary of labor, the secretary of HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, the secretary of education, the secretary of HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, and the secretary of transportation, comprise the cabinet.