Former acting attorney general Sally Yates joins Georgetown Law for the fall semester

Jessica Estepa | USA TODAY

Former acting attorney general Sally Yates has a new gig at Georgetown Law, the school announced Thursday.

This fall, Yates will serve as a distinguished lecturer from government, as part of a program that brings former officials to the Georgetown Law campus.

Yates said she was honored to join the law school for the semester.

"Georgetown has a long and distinguished history of rigorous and thoughtful academic dialogue and a commitment to social justice," she said.

Yates worked for the Justice Department for several years, including as the U.S. attorney for Northern District of Georgia and as deputy attorney general during the Obama administration. She was fired in January, days into the Trump presidency, for refusing to defend the new administration's first iteration of a travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Since then, Yates has said President Trump is trying to "dismantle the rule of law" in the United States.

"Sally Yates is an extraordinary public servant who has had a career of the greatest consequence," law school dean William Treanor said. "It is a privilege to have her join our faculty this fall."