Senate Judiciary Committee

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Lore & Background

Hatch chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee during two separate periods: from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2003 to 2005. In September 1989, before his chairmanship, Hatch was one of nine Republican senators appointed by Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole to negotiate a dispute with Democrats over the financing of President George H.W. Bush's anti-drug plan that called for spending $7.8 billion by the following year as part of the president's efforts to address narcotics nationwide and abroad. Hatch long expressed interest in serving on the U.S. Supreme Court. It was reported that he was on Ronald Reagan's short list of candidates to succeed Lewis F. Powell Jr. on the Supreme Court, but was passed over at least in part because of the Ineligibility Clause. Despite that, he vocally supported Robert Bork, who was nominated for the vacancy instead.

In Their Own Story

During the 1991 confirmation hearings regarding the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas, Hatch famously defended Thomas by reading aloud from The Exorcist to suggest Anita Hill lifted details of her sexual harassment allegations from the horror book. In 1995, Hatch was the leading figure behind the Senate's anti-terrorism bill, to a large extent a response to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Elements of the bill were criticised by the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee on civil liberties grounds, especially the new limits imposed on habeas corpus in capital cases.

Reader's Guide

As a senior member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, Hatch was also instrumental in the 2008 extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He said, 'This bipartisan bill will help defeat terrorism and keep America safe. No, the legislation is not perfect, but it ensures that the increased expansion of the judiciary into foreign intelligence gathering doesn't unnecessarily hamper our intelligence community.'

Did You Know?

• Orrin Hatch served as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1995 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2005.
• During the 1991 Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings, Hatch read aloud from The Exorcist to suggest Anita Hill lifted details of her sexual harassment allegations from the horror book.
• In 1995, Hatch was the leading figure behind the Senate's anti-terrorism bill, largely a response to the Oklahoma City Bombing.
• Hatch was on Ronald Reagan's short list of candidates to succeed Lewis F. Powell Jr. on the Supreme Court, but was passed over at least in part because of the Ineligibility Clause.
• As a senior member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, Hatch was instrumental in the 2008 extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.