United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary (German Judicial Committee of the Senate of the United States ) is a standing committee of the Senate of the United States .
Among other things, he conducts hearings of candidates for the post of federal judges as part of the parliamentary confirmation procedure. For example, he asked candidates for seats on the Supreme Court by name , most recently Brett Kavanaugh, who was nominated as judge .
The role of the Judiciary Committee in Supreme Court nominations has become much more prominent in recent years as a result of the high level of politicization of the Supreme Court and the high media interest. While verbal interviews with nominees used to be rather uncommon and recommendations for confirmation were often unanimous, interrogation of candidate judges has become a protracted and dramatically staged television spectacle since the 1990s. This, in turn, is often used less by the committee members for the actual questioning of the nominee, but mainly serves - with long lectures for the television cameras - for the purpose of their own political profiling.
Members of the 116th Congress
The Judiciary Committee is chaired by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina .
Former Chair of the Judiciary Committee
- Dudley Chase ( DR -VT) 1816-1817
- John J. Crittenden (DR-KY) 1817-1818
- James Burrill ( F- RI) 1818-1819
- William Smith (DR-SC) 1819-1823
- Martin Van Buren (DR / D- NY) 1823-1828
- John MacPherson Berrien (D-GA) 1828-1829
- John Rowan (D-KY) 1829-1831
- William L. Marcy (D-NY) 1831-1832
- William Wilkins (D-PA) 1832-1833
- John Middleton Clayton ( W- DE) 1833-1836
- Felix Grundy (D-TN) 1836-1838
- Garret D. Wall (D-NJ) 1838-1841
- John MacPherson Berrien (W-GA) 1841-1845
- 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
- William Langer (R-ND) 1953-1955
- 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) 2005-2007
- Patrick Leahy (D-VT) 2007-2015
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA) 2015-2019