Meet the Lawmakers Newly Assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee

The newly Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee will welcome three new GOP members and one Democrat in the new Congress, as Donald Trump looks to further make his mark on the federal bench.

Republicans will outnumber Democrats on the panel 12-10, with Sens. Jon Osoff, D-Georgia, and Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas not appearing on committee assignment lists from party leaders. The new faces come as the 119th Congress gets underway Friday, shifting from a narrow Democratic majority in the Senate to a GOP one.

Below are the new names on the roster for the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will be chaired by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri

Schmitt was elected to Congress in 2022 to a seat vacated by retired Sen. Roy Blunt following a stint as Missouri attorney general.

As attorney general, Schmitt filed a flurry of lawsuits against the Biden administration, including over the White House’s immigration policies and student loan forgiveness plans. Schmitt, with Louisiana’s attorney general, also filed a lawsuit alleging the Biden administration pressured social media platforms to censor conservative speech.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last term that the states lacked standing.

“I look forward to bringing my background as an attorney and former state attorney general to the Judiciary Committee and contributing to the important work on that committee, which includes working with the Trump Administration to restore trust in the Department of Justice and return to the rule of law,” Schmitt said in a statement.

Four federal trial court seats in Missouri that became vacant during Joe Biden’s presidency will remain open for Trump to fill.

Katie Britt, R-Alabama

Britt, now 42, was the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the Senate in 2022 and also has a legal background, having received her law degree from the University of Alabama School of Law.

She made headlines last year in giving the GOP’s rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union address, where she said that “the American dream has turned into an American nightmare.” Her speech drew praise from Trump and other Republicans.

Britt previously worked as an attorney at Johnston Barton Proctor & Rose in Birmingham and left the firm when it closed in 2014 to join Butler Snow’s Birmingham office, her office said. She took a leave of absence from the firm to serve as then-Sen. Richard Shelby’s deputy campaign manager and communications director and was appointed as the Alabama Republican’s chief of staff, a role in which she helped vet potential federal court picks.

“As an attorney, I am committed to ensuring America’s judicial system is run by those who interpret the law, rather than leftwing activist judges seeking to legislate from the bench,” Britt said in a statement. “I am also looking forward to utilizing my role on the Judiciary Committee to work alongside President Trump to end the border crisis and strengthen immigration enforcement across our nation’s interior.”

In Alabama, there are two federal district court vacancies and one circuit court vacancy for Trump to fill.

Mike Crapo, R-Idaho

In addition to joining the Senate Judiciary Committee, Crapo is taking on a new position as leader of the Senate Finance Committee and will be a major player in the expected fight over extending the 2017 tax cuts.

Crapo and Sen. Jim Risch, a fellow Idaho Republican, supported Biden’s only pick for a seat on the Idaho federal district court, Judge Amanda Brailsford.

Crapo, a Harvard Law School graduate, clerked for Judge James Carter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and worked at the firm Holden, Kidwell, Hahn & Crapo. Crapo’s office declined to comment on his committee assignment.

Adam Schiff, D-California

Schiff takes the committee spot that was held by interim Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-California, who served out Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s term following her death in September 2023.

Schiff, elected to the Senate in November, chaired the House Intelligence Committee and served as a prosecutor in the 2020 Senate trial on whether President Trump should be removed from office over allegations he pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden. The Senate acquitted Trump.

Schiff was an assistant U.S. attorney in California from 1987 to 1993, where he secured the conviction of an FBI agent accused of selling classified information to the Soviet government.