Patrick Joseph Leahy (born March 31, 1940) is the senior United States Senator from Vermont. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and is the current chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Early life, private career and family

Leahy was born in Montpelier, Vermont, the son of Alba (née Zambon) and Howard Francis Leahy, a printer. His father was Irish-American and his mother Italian-American. His family roots are traced back to Irish immigrants in Montreal, Quebec and his wife's family is from Quebec. He has a brother, John, and a sister, Mary.

Leahy graduated from Saint Michael's College in 1961 and received his J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law School in 1964. He practiced as a lawyer until he was elected for four terms as State's Attorney of Chittenden County from 1966 to 1974. Leahy was elected to the United States Senate for the first time in 1974 (at 34, he was the youngest U.S. Senator ever to be elected by Vermont), and has been re-elected five times. Leahy was the first Democrat elected to Congress from Vermont since the Civil War, and remains the only Democrat to have been elected Senator from Vermont, although Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, received the endorsement of the Vermont Democratic Party when he ran as an independent in 2006.

Leahy married Marcelle Pomerleau in 1962. They reside in a farmhouse in Middlesex, Vermont that they moved to from Burlington, and have three children. Leahy is legally blind in one eye.

U.S. Senator

Reflecting Vermont's former reputation as a Republican stronghold, Leahy is the only Democrat to be elected to the Senate by Vermont, and one of only three non-Republicans to represent Vermont at the federal level since the end of the Civil War. (Jim Jeffords was elected as a Republican before he switched to become an Independent, while Bernie Sanders was elected as an Independent; he won and then refused the Democratic Party nomination.)

Leahy was re-elected in 1980, 1986, 1992, 1998, and 2004. He was chairman of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee from 1987 until the Democrats lost control of the Senate in 1995 and was then chairman of the Judiciary Committee from 2001 until the Democrats lost control again in 2003. He is now the chairman of that committee, and is one of the key Democratic leaders in the Senate fight over the rules for filling federal judgeships via advise and consent. Leahy also serves as third-highest Democrat on the Appropriations Committee and as Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs. In his position as the second-highest Democrat on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee Leahy serves as Chairman of the Agriculture Subcommittee on Research, Nutrition and General Legislation. He is one of the longest-tenured Senators, as of 2008, and thus has a high ranking in the order of precedence in protocol.

1998 election and later Senate events

The 1998 election was noteworthy in that Leahy had the endorsement of his Republican opponent, Fred Tuttle. Tuttle was the lead actor in the movie Man With A Plan, shot in Vermont, in which a farmer decides to run for the House. Tuttle told voters to vote for Leahy because he didn't want to move to Washington D.C. Leahy was touched by this gesture; he once said that Tuttle was the "distilled essence of Vermonthood".

Leahy was one of two Senators targeted in the 2001 anthrax attacks. The anthrax letter meant for him was intercepted before it reached his office. In 2004, Leahy was awarded the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Champion of Freedom Award for efforts in information privacy and open government. Leahy is regarded as one of the leading privacy advocates in Congress. Leahy is also heard often on the issue of land mines.

Also in 2001, Senator Leahy sent at least two letters to the Committee on the Judiciary and the United States Senate, noting his opposition to efforts to toughen laws against the leaking of classified information.^[1][2]

On June 22, 2004, Leahy and Vice President Dick Cheney participated in the US Senate class photo. After the vote, Cheney was only talking to Republicans. When Leahy asked him to come over and talk to the Democrats, Cheney upbraided Leahy for the Senator's recent excoriations of Halliburton's activities in Iraq. At the end of the exchange, Cheney told Leahy, "Fuck yourself."^{[3] [4]} Leahy joked about the incident in 2007 when he escorted Bernie Sanders, Vermont's newly-elected senator, to the well of the Senate where he was sworn in by Cheney: "When it comes to the vice president, it's always better to be sworn in than to be sworn at".^[5] For a time, liberals made sport of the exchange with the expression "Go Cheney yourself!"

In March 2004, Leahy and Orrin Hatch introduced the Pirate Act backed by the RIAA. In July 2004, Leahy and Hatch introduced the INDUCE Act. Both were aimed at combating copyright infringement.^[6]

On November 2, 2004, Leahy easily defeated his opponent, businessman Jack McMullen, with 70.6 percent of the vote. On January 5, 2005, Leahy was sworn in for his sixth term in the Senate by Cheney.

On September 21, 2005, Leahy announced his support for John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. However, on January 19, 2006, Leahy announced that he would vote against Judge Samuel Alito to be a justice on the Supreme Court. He has a mixed record on gun control, being one of the few Senate Democrats to vote against the Brady Bill. He voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and is in favor of phasing out farm subsidies that are supported by the populist wing of the Democratic Party. However, he recently voted against the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Leahy voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and was one of the few in his party to support the ban on intact dilation and extraction procedures.

On March 2, 2006, Leahy was one of 10 senators who voted against the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act, a bill to extend the USA PATRIOT Act. The Reauthorization Act changed the appointment process for interim United States attorneys, allowing the Attorney General to make interim appointments without term limit, and without Senatorial confirmation. This was an aspect of hearings in the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy. Both houses voted to overturn the interim appointment provision in March 2007.

On January 18, 2007, Leahy received widespread coverage for his cross-examination of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales about the Maher Arar affair and the extraordinary rendition of Arar to Syria.^[7]

Leahy endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, and recorded a radio advertisement for the Obama campaign to be aired in Vermont. ^[8]

Political positions

Leahy speaks during the second day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

Leahy has held progressive political positions that are in line with a state that is generally liberal but independent minded. He has generally supported abortion rights, rejecting proposals to limit minors or those stationed on military bases from having the procedure performed. However, he has voted against the legalization of partial birth abortions. He has been strongly supported by the NAACP and is outspoken in his support for affirmative action. Leahy has also been one of the most gay rights-friendly members of Congress. He has supported the legalization of gay marriage and reducing discrimination against this group. Leahy has also called for the domestic partners of federal employees to receive the same benefits as straight couples [1].

The senator spoke strongly against a proposed constitutional ban on flag burning and on its implications for freedom of speech and expression. He rejects school-prayer initiatives and plans for abstinance-only public education. Leahy has called for a moratorium on the death penalty and more DNA testing for death row inmates. He supports rehabilitation as the goal of prisons and providing treatment instead of punishment for first time offenders. Leahy has generally supported gun control, including requiring background checks at gun shows and allowing for lawsuits against firearms manufacturers. However, he voted in favor of prohibiting US foreign aid that inhibits gun ownership [2].

Leahy sees the expansion of public healthcare as vital, and he has stated the importance of increasing its prevelance during times of economic downturn. He voted to increase Medicare benefits and to allow this organization to negotiate lower-priced, bulk prescriptions from pharmaceutical manufacturers. The senator sees the nursing shortage as leading to a decline in healthcare. He has broken with Democratic leadership in supporting allowing states to make bulk drug purchases on their own, an idea he sees as an important short term solution until Congress can agree on a similar proposal. Leahy has consitantly voted to uphold Social Security and has opposed school vouchers [3].

Senator Leahy has been a strong supporter of environmental policy. He has supported bills that would increase hydrogen car production, uphold CAFE standards, set a goal of reducing oil consumption by 40% in 2025, and increase solar and wind power funding. He wants to establish greenhouse gas tradeable allowances and has spoken out against the effectiveness of ethanol as a solution to rising gasoline prices [4].

On taxation, Leahy has consistantly supported instituting progressive rates. He has rejected proposals to remove the Estate Tax and Alternative Minimum Tax, and he has spoken out strongly against cutting taxes for the wealthy. Leahy has strongly supported the rights of employees, and has voted to increase the minimum wage and allow for more union organization. He has voted against the most controversial of free trade proposals, such as CAFTA and NAFTA, but supported normalizing trade relations with China [5].

Leahy has been a long-time critic of US activities in Iraq. He has spoken in favor of timetables for troop withdrawal and has stated that the country needs well trained foreign service and civilian workers to help fix the damage in Iraq. He has also been highly critical of the PATRIOT Act [6].

Personal life

Leahy is a fan of the Grateful Dead. He has not only attended concerts, but has taped them, and has a collection of the band's tapes in his Senate Offices. Jerry Garcia visited him at his Senate offices, and Leahy gave a tie designed by Garcia to Senator Orrin Hatch (who responded by giving Leahy a Rush Limbaugh tie). Surviving band members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart have participated in fundraisers for Leahy and his Political Action Committee, the Green Mountain Victory Fund. Leahy also appeared in a videotaped tribute to the Dead when they received a lifetime achievement award at the 2002 Jammys. His Senate website notes this response to a question from seventh grade students from Vermont's Thetford Academy who asked Leahy which Dead song was his favorite, he replied: "... my favorite is "Black Muddy River" but we always play "Truckin'" on election night at my headquarters."

In a 1994 interview on ABC News, Leahy claimed that, while attending Georgetown Law School, he obtained tickets to see The Beatles' first full U.S. concert, at the Washington Coliseum, inviting a classmate, who declined, saying that the Beatles were a fad. Leahy declined to identify the classmate, but added, "He hasn't gone on to become a very good lawyer, either."

Also a fan of U2, Leahy has a picture mounted on the wall of his office of himself, his wife, President Bill Clinton and Bono. On it, Bono has drawn an arrow pointed to himself, with the caption, "Would you trust this man with your children?"

Leahy is quoted on Loung Ung's website: "In this gripping narrative Loung Ung describes the unfathomable evil that engulfed Cambodia during her childhood, the courage that enabled her family to survive, and the determination that has made her an eloquent voice for peace and justice in Cambodia. It is a tour de force that strengthens our resolve to prevent and punish crimes against humanities." The book he is referring to is Lucky Child.

Leahy is a published photographer.^[9]

A big fan of the Batman comics, Leahy lent his voice in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series as a Governor in a western tale involving Ra's al Ghul and Jonah Hex. He also appeared as a cameo in Batman and Robin, and has another cameo in the 2008 film The Dark Knight.^[10] Leahy's character, a guest at a fund raiser for Harvey Dent, is grabbed by The Joker, who tells Leahy's character that he reminds him of his father. Leahy wrote the introduction to the collected edition of Green Arrow: the Archer's Quest and the foreword to the first volume of The Dark Knight Archives, a hardcover reprinting of the first four issues of the Batman comic book.

Electoral history

• 1974 election for U.S. Senate
  • Patrick Leahy (D), 49.5%
  • Richard W. Mallary (R), 46.4%

• 1980 election for U.S. Senate
  • Patrick Leahy (D) (inc.), 49.8%
  • Stewart M. Ledbetter (R), 48.5%

• 1986 election for U.S. Senate
  • Patrick Leahy (D) (inc.), 63.7%
  • Richard A. Snelling (R), 34.7%

• 1992 election for U.S. Senate
  • Patrick Leahy (D) (inc.), 54.2%
  • Jim Douglas (R), 43.3%

• 1998 election for U.S. Senate
  • Patrick Leahy (D) (inc.), 72%
  • Fred Tuttle (R), 23%

• 2004 election for U.S. Senate
  • Patrick Leahy (D) (inc.), 71%
  • Jack McMullen (R) 25%
  • Craig Hill (G) 1%
  • Keith Stern (I) 1%
  • Ben Mitchell (LU) 0%

References

External links

• United States Senator Patrick Leahy, Senate site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• New York Times — Patrick J. Leahy News collected news and commentary
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Patrick Leahy profile
• Videos of Patrick Leahy, via Meteor

v • d •  United States Senators from Vermont Class 1: M. Robinson • Tichenor • Chipman • Smith • J. Robinson • Tichenor • Seymour • Swift • Phelps • Foot • Edmunds • Proctor • Stewart • Page • Greene • Partridge • Austin • Flanders • Prouty • Stafford • Jeffords • Sanders Class 3: Bradley • Paine • Bradley • Chase • Fisk • Palmer • Chase • Prentiss • Crafts • Upham • Phelps • Brainerd • Collamer • Poland • Morrill • Ross • Dillingham • Dale • Gibson, Sr. • Gibson, Jr. • Aiken • Leahy