There will be a Tea Party for two on the Republican side of the Senate Judiciary Committee next session.
Senate Republicans announced today that newly elected Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a lawyer who was backed by the Tea Party movement, will serve as a member of the committee during this session.
Cruz will join Tea Party Caucus member Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), the son of former U.S. solicitor general Rex Lee, and an active and vocal part of the judiciary committee since he took office in 2011.
Cruz spent five years as the solicitor general of Texas. He has authored more than 80 U.S. Supreme Court briefs, and has argued nine times before the high court. He takes the spot of Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who now joins the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) will also be a new member of the committee, taking the place of retired senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). Flake is not an attorney.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) remains the committee's ranking Republican member.
Newly elected Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) will become the only new Democratic member of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the next session of Congress. Hirono, a lawyer and graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, will be filling the committee spot vacated by retiring Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wis.).
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