Arthur Branch

Arthur Branch is a fictional character on the TV

Branch was portrayed by former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson. He played Branch concurrently in Law & Order and Trial by Jury, making him one of the few actors to have a regular role on two TV series simultaneously as the same character. When Thompson began the role, he was still a sitting member of the United States Senate—his term did not expire until several months after his first episode aired—thus making Thompson the first sitting U.S. Senator to portray someone other than himself on TV. (Thompson had an active acting career before his election to the Senate.)

Thompson was the only regular on Law & Order who was once a prosecutor in real life. He worked as an assistant United States Attorney from 1969 to 1972.^[1]

Character background

Branch graduated from

Branch is elected the

In the episode "Ain't No Love", he fires Southerlyn because he feels she is inappropriately sympathetic towards a defendant she is prosecuting. Despite her parting fears, Branch says he is not firing her because she is a lesbian.^[14]

In May 2007, Fred Thompson left the cast of Law & Order to run for the Republican Party's nomination for the 2008 United States presidential election.^[15] On the show, no reason is given for Branch's departure, and McCoy is chosen to serve out the remainder of his term.^[16] In Branch's final scene, he suggests that McCoy might run for District Attorney in the future; McCoy says "I'm no politician, Arthur" and Branch replies, "Yeah... everybody says that."^[17] This contradicts a prior statement he made to McCoy, several episodes earlier, telling the latter in admonishment: "You're a helluva prosecutor, Jack. But, you'll never be a District Attorney."

In October 2009,