Leahy, Patrick J. (Patrick Joseph), 1940-

<p>Patrick Joseph Leahy (/ˈleɪhi/; born March 31, 1940) is an American politician and attorney serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate, and as the senior United States senator from Vermont. Leahy was first elected to the Senate in 1974, and previously served as president pro tempore from 2012 to 2015. He is the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.</p>

<p>A member of the Democratic Party, Leahy is now in his eighth term of office. He is the most senior member of the Senate, and the last of the Senate's "Watergate Babies" – Democrats first elected to Congress in 1974, following President Richard Nixon's 1974 resignation over the Watergate scandal. Leahy is also the only sitting senator to have served during Gerald Ford's presidency, and one of just two to have served during Jimmy Carter's term.</p>

<p>The dean of the state's congressional delegation, Leahy is Vermont's longest-serving U.S. senator, as well as the only Democrat ever elected to the U.S. Senate from Vermont. He is the former chairman of the Agriculture and Judiciary Committees. He served as the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee from 2017 to 2021, and became chairman in 2021. In 2001, Leahy was one of the two U.S. senators targeted by the anthrax attacks that killed five people.</p>

<p>On January 25, 2021, it was announced that Leahy would be the presiding officer at Donald Trump's second impeachment trial, becoming the first senator to preside over a former president's impeachment trial.</p>

LEAHY, Patrick Joseph, a Senator from Vermont; born in Montpelier, Washington County, Vt., March 31, 1940; graduated, St. Michael's College, Winooski, Vt., 1961; received J.D. degree from Georgetown University 1964; admitted to the Vermont bar in 1964 and commenced practice in Burlington; State's attorney, Chittenden County, Vt., 1966-1974; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1974; reelected in 1980, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2004, 2010, and again in 2016 for the term ending January 3, 2023; president pro tempore (December 17, 2012-January 3, 2015; January 20, 2021-); chair, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry (One Hundredth through One Hundred Third Congresses), Committee on the Judiciary (One Hundred Seventh Congress [January 3-20, 2001; June 6, 2001-January 3, 2003], One Hundred Tenth to One Hundred Thirteenth Congresses), Committee on Appropriations (One Hundred Seventeenth Congress).

<p>Patrick Leahy was elected to the United States Senate in 1974 and remains the only Democrat elected to this office from Vermont. At 34, he was the youngest U.S. Senator ever to be elected from the Green Mountain State.</p>

<p>Leahy was born in Montpelier and grew up across from the State House. A graduate of Saint Michael's College in Colchester (1961), he received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center (1964). He served for eight years as State's Attorney in Chittenden County where he gained a national reputation for his law enforcement activities and was selected as one of three outstanding prosecutors in the United States in 1974.</p>

<p>Senator Leahy is currently the president pro tempore of the United States Senate. Leahy is the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is the senior-most member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Leahy is the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State Department, Foreign Operations and Related Programs. He ranks first in seniority in the Senate.</p>