Previous Committee Chairmen

The chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee has changed 49 times. Forty one different Senators have held the position since the Committee was established as one of the original standing Committees of the Senate in 1816. Dudley Chase of Vermont served as the panel's first chair.

Italics denotes a Chairman who has served at two intervals.

 

2015-Present
Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa

2007-2015
Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont

January 15,2003-January 6, 2005
Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah

January 20-June 5, 2001
Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah

1995-2001
Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah

1981-1987
James Strom Thurmond, R-South Carolina

1956-1978
James O. Eastland, D-Mississippi

1953-1955
William Langer, R-North Dakota

1947-1949
Alexander Wiley, R-Wisconsin

1941-1945
Frederick Van Nuys, D-Indiana

1926-1933
George W. Norris, R-Nebraska

1923-1924
Frank B. Brandegee, R-Connecticut

1913-1919
Charles A. Culberson, D-Texas

1904
Orville H. Platt, R-Connecticut

1893-1895
James L. Pugh, D-Alabama

1881-1891
George F. Edmunds, R-Vermont

1872-1879
George F. Edmunds, R-Vermont

1857-1861
James A. Bayard, Jr., D-Delaware

1845-1847
Chester Ashley, D-Arkansas

1838-1841
Garret D. Wall, New Jersey

1833-1836
John M. Clayton, Delaware

1831-1832
William L. Marcy, New York

1828-1829
John Macpherson Berrien, Georgia

1819-1823
William Smith, South Carolina

1817-1818
John J. Crittenden, Kentucky

2005-2007
Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania

June 6, 2001-January 15, 2003
Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont

January 3 - January 20, 2001
Patrick J. Leahy, D-Vermont

1987-1995
Joseph R. Biden, D-Delaware

1979-1981
Edward M. Kennedy, D-Massachusetts

1955-1956
Harley M. Kilgore, D-West Virginia

1949-1953
Patrick McCarran, D-Nevada

1945-1947
Patrick McCarran, D-Nevada

1933-1941
Henry F. Ashurst, D-Arizona

1924-1926
Albert B. Cummins, R-Iowa

1919-1923
Knute Nelson, R-Minnesota

1905-1912
Clarence D. Clark, R-Wyoming

1895-1904
George F. Hoar, R-Massachusetts

1891-1893
George F. Hoar, R-Massachusetts

1879-1881
Allen G. Thurman, D-Ohio

1861-1872
Lyman Trumbull, R-Illinois

1848-1857
Andrew P. Butler, D-South Carolina

1841-1845
John Macpherson Berrien, Georgia

1836-1838
Felix Grundy, Tennessee

1832-1833
William Wilkins, Pennsylvania

1829-1831
John Rowan, Kentucky

1823-1828
Martin Van Buren, New York

1818-1819
James Burrill, Jr., Rhode Island

1816-1817
Dudley Chase, Vermont