Patrick Joseph Leahy (born March 311940) is the senior United States Senator from Vermont. He is a Democrat. Leahy was born and raised in Vermont. He received his law degree from Georgetown University and practiced as a lawyer until he was elected to the United States senate for the first time in 1974. He had not held any other political office before becoming senator. He was reelected in 1980, 1986, 1992 and 1998. 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 ranking member of that committee and is one of the leaders in the Democratic Party's effort to block several nominees put forward by President George W. Bush for federal judgeships.
