United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary ( Senate Judiciary Committee of the United States) is a standing committee of the Senate of the United States.
Among other things, it leads through the parliamentary confirmation process through hearings of candidates for the post of federal judges. He questioned in particular candidates for seats on the Supreme Court, most recently nominated as a judge Elena Kagan.
The role of the Judicial Committee in Supreme Court nominations has become much more prominent in recent years due to the strong politicization of the Supreme Court and of the great media interest. Goods oral interviews of the nominees earlier rather uncommon and often carried confirming recommendations unanimously, the survey of judges candidates since the 1990s has become a lengthy and dramatic staged television spectacle. This in turn is used by the committee members often less for the actual survey of the nominees, but serves mainly - with long speeches for the television cameras - for the purpose of their own political profiling.
Members in the 113th Congress
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont held.
The members of the Democrats are:
- Patrick Leahy (Vermont ), Chairman
- Dianne Feinstein ( California )
- Charles Schumer (New York)
- Richard Durbin (Illinois )
- Sheldon Whitehouse ( Rhode Iceland )
- Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota)
- Al Franken (Minnesota)
- Chris Coons (Delaware)
- Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut)
- Mazie Hirono (Hawaii)
For the Republicans, the following Senators on the Committee:
- Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Ranking Minority Member
- Orrin Hatch ( Utah)
- Jeff Sessions (Alabama )
- Lindsey Graham ( South Carolina)
- John Cornyn (Texas )
- Mike Lee ( Utah)
- Ted Cruz ( Texas)
- Jeff Flake (Arizona )
Former chairman of the Judiciary Committee
- Dudley Chase ( DR- VT) 1816-1817
- John J. Crittenden (DR- KY) 1817-1818
- James Burrill ( R -RI ) 1818-1819
- William Smith (DR -SC) 1819-1823
- Martin Van Buren ( DR / D -NY) 1823-1828
- John Rowan (D -KY ) 1829-1831
- William L. Marcy (D -NY) 1831-1832
- William Wilkins (D -PA) from 1832 to 1833
- John Middleton Clayton (W -DE) 1833-1836
- Felix Grundy (D -TN ) 1836-1838
- Garret D. Wall (D -NJ ) 1838-1841
- Chester Ashley (D -AR) 1845-1847
- Andrew Butler ( D -SC) 1847-1857
- James A. Bayard Jr. ( D -DE) 1857-1861
- Lyman Trumbull (R -IL) 1861-1872
- George F. Edmunds (R- VT) 1872-1879
- Allen G. Thurman (D -OH), 1879-1881
- George F. Edmunds (R- VT) 1881-1891
- George Frisbie Hoar (R -MA) 1891-1893
- James L. Pugh (D - AL) 1893-1895
- George F. Hoar (R -MA) 1895-1904
- Orville H. Platt ( R- CT) 1904-1905
- Clarence Don Clark (R- WY) 1905-1912
- Charles Allen Culberson (D -TX) 1912-1919
- Knute Nelson ( R -MN) 1919-1923
- Frank B. Brandegee (R- CT) 1923-1924
- Albert B. Cummins (R- IA) 1924-1926
- George W. Norris (R -NE) 1926-1933
- Henry F. Ashurst (D -AZ ) 1933-1941
- Frederick Van Nuys (D -IN) 1941-1945
- Pat McCarran (D -NV ) 1945-1947
- Alexander Wiley (R- WI) 1947-1949
- Pat McCarran (D -NV ) 1949-1953
- Harley M. Kilgore (D -WV ) 1955-1956
- James Eastland (D -MS) 1956-1978
- Edward Kennedy ( D -MA) 1978-1981
- Strom Thurmond (R -SC) 1981-1987
- Joe Biden (D -DE) 1987-1995
- Orrin Hatch ( R -UT ) 1995-2001
- Patrick Leahy (D -VT ) 2001
- Orrin Hatch ( R -UT ) 2001
- Patrick Leahy (D -VT ) 2001-2003
- Orrin Hatch ( R -UT ) 2003-2005
- Arlen Specter (R -PA) from 2005 to 2007