United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

Sonia Sotomayor testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on her appointment to the United States Supreme Court

The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (informally Senate Judiciary Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate, of the United States Congress. The Judiciary Committee, with 18 members, is charged with conducting hearings prior to the Senate votes on confirmation of federal judges (including Supreme Court justices) nominated by the president. In recent years, this role has made the committee increasingly a point of contention, with numerous party-line votes and standoffs over which judges should be approved. The committee also has a broad jurisdiction over matters relating to federal criminal law, as well as human rights, immigration law, intellectual property rights, antitrust law, and Internet privacy. It is also Senate procedure that all proposed Constitutional Amendments pass through the Judiciary Committee.

The committee is one of the oldest in the Senate. It was initially created in 1816.

Members, 112th Congress

The Committee is chaired by Democrat Patrick Leahy of Vermont and the Ranking Member is Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Majority	Minority
Patrick Leahy, Vermont, Chairman Herb Kohl, Wisconsin Dianne Feinstein, California Chuck Schumer, New York Richard Durbin, Illinois Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota Al Franken, Minnesota Chris Coons, Delaware Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut	Chuck Grassley, Iowa Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, Utah Jon Kyl, Arizona Jeff Sessions, Alabama Lindsey Graham, South Carolina John Cornyn, Texas Mike Lee, Utah Tom Coburn, Oklahoma

Source: 2011 Congressional Record, Vol. 157, Page S557

Subcommittees

Subcommittee	Chair	Ranking member
Administrative Oversight and the Courts	Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)	Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights	Herb Kohl (D-WI)	Mike Lee (R-UT)
The Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights	Dick Durbin (D-IL)	Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Crime and Terrorism	Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)	Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Immigration, Refugees and Border Security	Chuck Schumer (D-NY)	John Cornyn (R-TX)
Privacy, Technology and the Law	Al Franken (D-MN)	Tom Coburn (R-OK)

Chairmen since 1816

Chairman	Party	State	Years
Dudley Chase	Democratic-Republican	Vermont	1816–1817
John J. Crittenden	Democratic-Republican	Kentucky	1817–1818
James Burrill, Jr.	Federalist	Rhode Island	1818–1819
William Smith	Democratic-Republican	South Carolina	1819–1823
Martin Van Buren	Democratic-Republican	New York	1823–1828
John M. Berrien	Jacksonian	Georgia	1828–1829
John Rowan	Democratic-Republican	Kentucky	1829–1831
William L. Marcy	Jacksonian	New York	1831–1832
William Wilkins	Jacksonian	Pennsylvania	1832-1833
John M. Clayton	Anti-Jacksonian	Delaware	1833–1836
Felix Grundy	Jacksonian	Tennessee	1836-1838
Garret D. Wall	Democratic	New Jersey	1838–1841
John M. Berrien	Whig	Georgia	1841–1845
Chester Ashley	Democratic	Arkansas	1845–1847
Andrew P. Butler	Democratic	South Carolina	1847–1857
James A. Bayard, Jr.	Democratic	Delaware	1857–1861
Lyman Trumbull	Republican	Illinois	1861-1872
George F. Edmunds	Republican	Vermont	1872–1879
Allen G. Thurman	Democratic	Ohio	1879–1881
George F. Edmunds	Republican	Vermont	1881–1891
George Frisbie Hoar	Republican	Massachusetts	1891–1893
James L. Pugh	Democratic	Alabama	1893–1895
George Frisbie Hoar	Republican	Massachusetts	1895–1904
Orville H. Platt	Republican	Connecticut	1904-1905
Clarence D. Clark	Republican	Wyoming	1905-1912
Charles Allen Culberson	Democratic	Texas	1912-1919
Knute Nelson	Republican	Minnesota	1919–1923
Frank B. Brandegee	Republican	Connecticut	1923–1924
Albert B. Cummins	Republican	Iowa	1924–1926
George William Norris	Republican	Nebraska	1926–1933
Henry F. Ashurst	Democratic	Arizona	1933–1941
Frederick Van Nuys	Democratic	Indiana	1941–1945
Pat McCarran	Democratic	Nevada	1945–1947
Alexander Wiley	Republican	Wisconsin	1947–1949
Pat McCarran	Democratic	Nevada	1949–1953
William Langer	Republican	North Dakota	1953–1955
Harley M. Kilgore	Democratic	West Virginia	1955–1956
James Eastland	Democratic	Mississippi	1956–1978
Edward M. Kennedy	Democratic	Massachusetts	1978–1981
Strom Thurmond	Republican	South Carolina	1981–1987
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.	Democratic	Delaware	1987–1995
Orrin Hatch	Republican	Utah	1995–2001
Patrick Leahy[1]	Democratic	Vermont	2001
Orrin Hatch	Republican	Utah	2001
Patrick Leahy[2]	Democratic	Vermont	2001–2003
Orrin Hatch	Republican	Utah	2003-2005
Arlen Specter	Republican	Pennsylvania	2005-2007
Patrick Leahy	Democratic	Vermont	2007–present

References

1. ^ When the Senate convened in January 2001 17 days before President George W. Bush was inaugurated, there was a 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans with Vice President Al Gore as a tiebreaking vote.
2. ^ In June 2001, Republican Jim Jeffords declared himself an Independent and caucused with the Democrats, giving the Democrats majority control.

External links

• United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Official Website
• Senate Judiciary Committee member profiles at WhoRunsGov at The Washington Post

See also

• United States House Committee on the Judiciary