Lindsey Graham

Lindsey Graham
United States Senator from South Carolina
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2003 Serving with Jim DeMint
Preceded by	J. Strom Thurmond
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 3rd district
In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Butler Derrick
Succeeded by	J. Gresham Barrett
Born	July 9, 1955 (age 54) Central, South Carolina
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	none
Residence	Seneca, South Carolina
Alma mater	University of South Carolina
Occupation	Attorney
Religion	Southern Baptist
Military service
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1982 – 1988 (active) 1988 – present (reserve)
Rank	Colonel
Unit	Judge Advocate General's Corps
Battles/wars	Gulf War Iraq War War in Afghanistan

Lindsey Olin Graham (born July 9, 1955) is an American politician from South Carolina. A member of the Republican Party, he is currently the senior United States Senator from that state. He serves on the Armed Services and Judiciary Committees.^[1]

Early life and education

Graham was born in Central, South Carolina, where his father, Florence James Graham, owned a liquor store. After graduating from D. W. Daniel High School, Graham became the first member of his family to attend college and joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. When he was 21 his mother died, and his father died 15 months later. Because his sister was left orphaned, the service allowed Graham to attend University of South Carolina in Columbia so he could be near home and care for his sister, whom he adopted. During his studies, he became a member of the fraternity Pi Kappa Phi.

Graham graduated from the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in Psychology in 1977 and from the University of South Carolina School of Law with a J.D. in 1981. Upon graduating, Graham was sent to Europe as a military prosecutor, and eventually entered private practice as a lawyer.^[2]

Military service

Graham decided to join the United States Air Force in 1982, and served on active duty until 1988. Following his departure he stayed in the military, joining the South Carolina Air National Guard^[3] and the U.S. Air Force Reserve. During the Gulf War, he was recalled to active duty, serving as a Judge Advocate at McEntire Air National Guard Station in Eastover, South Carolina, where he helped brief departing pilots on the laws of war.^[4]

In 2004, Graham received a promotion to Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves at a White House ceremony officiated by President George W. Bush.

Graham served in Iraq as a reservist on active duty for short periods during April and two weeks in August 2007, where he worked on detainee and rule-of-law issues.^[5] He also served in Afghanistan during the August 2009 Senate recess.^[6]

Political career on the national stage

House of Representatives

In 1992, Graham was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives from a district in Oconee County. In 1994, he became the first Republican to represent South Carolina's Third Congressional District in Washington since 1877. After only one term, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina's 3rd congressional district in the northwestern part of the state after 20-year incumbent Butler Derrick retired. With U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond campaigning on his behalf, Graham won by a large margin; the 3rd District had never elected a Republican before. In his first reelection bid, in 1996, Debbie Dorn, daughter of longtime 3rd District congressman W.J. Bryan Dorn and Derrick's niece, challenged Graham. However, Graham turned back this challenge fairly easily, winning by almost 20 points. He was unopposed for reelection in 1998 and handily defeated an underfunded Democrat in 2000.

In Congress, Graham became a member of the Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998. Graham opposed some articles, but vigorously supported others. In January and February 1999, after two impeachment articles had been passed by the full House, he was one of the managers who brought the House's case to Clinton's trial in the Senate which did not convict Clinton.^[7]

Senate

In 2002, upon Thurmond's retirement, Graham defeated his Democratic opponent, Alex Sanders, the president of the Charleston School of Law. Graham became South Carolina's first new Senator since 1965, and the state's first freshman Republican Senator since Reconstruction when sanctions were imposed on South Carolina by Radical Republicans. Graham served as Junior Senator for only two years, serving with U.S. Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings. Graham became Senior Senator in 2005 when Jim DeMint won election to Hollings's seat. In 2008, Graham was easily reelected against North Myrtle Beach native Bob Conley.^[8].

Alito confirmation hearings

During the Judiciary Committee's confirmation hearings for the nomination of Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court, a question arose concerning Alito's membership in a Princeton University organization which some said was sexist and racist.^[9][9][10] Alito "deplored" racist comments made by the organization's founder.^[11] While Graham said that Alito may be saying this because he wanted the nomination, he concluded that he had no reason to believe that because "you seem to be a decent, honorable man."^[11] Alito's wife and sister characterized Graham's statements as supportative.^[12][13]

Committee assignments

House of Representatives

During his service in the House, Graham served on the following committees:

• Committee on Homeland Security, 1995–1997
• Committee on International Relations, 1995–1998
• Committee on Education and the Workforce, 1995–2002
• Committee on the Judiciary, 1997–2002
• Committee on Armed Services, 1999–2002

U.S. Senate

Current

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
  • Subcommittee on Personnel (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce and the District of Columbia
  • Ad Hoc Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration
  • Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery (Ranking Member)
  • Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts
  • Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law
  • Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs
• Special Committee on Aging

Previous assignments

• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, 2003–2005
• Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, 2007–2009
• Select Committee on Intelligence, 2007–2009

Political views

Though Graham's stances are often socially conservative^[14], he has gained a reputation for sometimes speaking out against or criticizing the party line, as well as being open to making economically liberal compromises, such as was demonstrated with his support for bank bailouts.^[15] Graham notably supported John McCain's presidential bid in 2000, and served as national co-chairman of McCain's 2008 presidential bid.

Gang of 14

On May 23, 2005, Graham was one of the Gang of 14 senators to forge a compromise that brought a halt to the continued blockage of an up or down vote on judicial nominees. This compromise negated both the Democrats' threatened use of a filibuster and the so-called Republican "nuclear option" as described in the media. Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and three conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate.

Detainee interrogations

In July 2005, Graham secured the declassification and release of memoranda outlining concerns made by senior military lawyers as early as 2003 about the legality of the interrogations of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.^[16]

In response to this and a June 2004 U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing detainees to file habeas corpus petitions to challenge their detentions, Graham authored an amendment^[17] to a Department of Defense Authorization Act attempting to clarify the authority of American courts which passed in November 2005 by a vote of 49-42 in the Senate despite opposition from human rights groups and legal scholars because of the lack of rights it provides detainees.^[18][19]

Graham has said he amended the Department of Defense Authorization Act in order to give military lawyers, as opposed to politically appointed lawyers, a more independent role in the oversight of military commanders. He has argued that two of the largest problems leading to the detainee abuse scandals at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib were this lack of oversight and troops' confusion over legal boundaries.^[20]

Graham further explains that military lawyers had long observed the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Convention, but that those provisions had not been considered by the Bush administration in decisions regarding the treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay. He has claimed that better legal oversight within the military’s chain of command will prevent future detainee abuse.^[21]

The Graham amendment was itself amended by Democratic Senator Carl Levin so that it would not strip the courts of their jurisdiction in cases like Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that had already been granted cert; this compromise version passed by a vote of 84-14, though it did little to satisfy many critics of the original language. The Graham-Levin amendment, combined with Republican Senator John McCain's amendment banning torture, became known as the Detainee Treatment Act and attempted to limit interrogation techniques to those in the U.S. Army Field Manual of Interrogation. Verbal statements by Senators at the time of the amendment's passage indicated that Congress believed that Levin's changes would protect the courts' jurisdiction over cases like Hamdan, though Levin and his cosponsor Senator Kyl placed in the Congressional Record a statement indicating that there would be no change.

In February 2006, Graham joined Senator Jon Kyl in filing an amicus brief in the Hamdan v. Rumsfeld case that argued "Congress was aware" that the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 would strip the Supreme Court of jurisdiction to hear "pending cases, including this case" brought by the Guantanamo detainees.^[22]

In a May 2009 CNN interview, Graham referred to the domestic internment of German and Japanese prisoners of war as a model for domestic detention of Guantanamo detainees by saying, "We had 450,000 Japanese and German prisoners housed in the United States during World War II. As a nation, we can deal with this."^[23]

Immigration reform

Graham has been a supporter of "comprehensive immigration reform" and of S. 2611, the McCain-Kennedy Immigration Reform Bill of 2006 as well as S. 1348 of 2007, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007.

His positions on immigration, and in particular collaborating with Senator Kennedy, earned Graham the ire of conservative activists.^[24] Graham responded by saying, "We are going to solve this problem. We're not going to run people down. We're not going to scapegoat people. We're going to tell the bigots to shut up, and we're going to get this right."^[25] The controversy prompted conservative activists to support a primary challenge in 2008 by longtime Republican national committeeman Buddy Witherspoon,^[26][27] but Graham won the nomination by a large margin.^[28]

Second Amendment

Graham has been given an A rating by the NRA and a B rating by the Gun Owners of America. ^[29]

Health care

Graham is a cosponsor of the Healthy Americans Act.

Same-sex marriage

As a member of the House of Representatives, in 1996 Graham voted for the Defense of Marriage Act.^[30] As a Senator, in 2004 he voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment.^[31] He received a rating of 0% from the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign in each reporting period from 1995-2008, with the exception of 1999, when he received a rating of 9%.^[32]

Climate change

On December 10, 2009, Graham co-sponsored a letter to President Barack Obama along with Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman announcing their commitment to passing a climate change bill and outlining its framework.^[33] Graham has been identified as a leading supporter of passing a climate change bill and will likely sponsor the final bill. The Senators have identified a green economy, clean air, energy independence, consumer protection, increasing nuclear power and regulating the world's carbon market as the key features to a successful climate change bill.^[34] In response to Senate Democrats shifting their priorities to immigration issues, a reaction to Arizona's passage of an anti-undocumented immigrant law, Senator Graham withdrew his support for the climate bill, leaving its passage in doubt. ^[35]

Electoral history

South Carolina's 3rd congressional district: Results 1994–2000^[36]

Year		Democrat	Votes	Pct		Republican	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Party	Votes	Pct
1994		James E. Bryan, Jr.	59,932	40%		Lindsey Graham	90,123	60%						*
1996		Debbie Dorn	73,417	39%		Lindsey Graham	114,273	60%		Lindal Pennington	Natural Law	1,835	1%
1998		(no candidate)				Lindsey Graham	129,047	100%		Write-ins		402	<1%
2000		George Brightharp (On United Citizens line) (Total)	64,917 2,253 67,170	29% 1% 30%		Lindsey Graham	150,180	68%		Adrian Banks	Libertarian	3,116	1%	*

*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1994, write-ins received 13 votes. In 2000, Natural Law candidate LeRoy J. Klein received 1,122 votes and write-ins received 33 votes. George Brightharp ran under both the Democratic and United Citizens Parties.

Senate elections in South Carolina (Class II): Results 2002–2008^[36]

Year		Democrat	Votes	Pct		Republican	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Party	Votes	Pct		3rd Party	Party	Votes	Pct
2002		Alex Sanders	487,359	44%		Lindsey Graham	600,010	54%		Ted Adams	Constitution	8,228	1%		Victor Kocher	Libertarian	6,648	1%	*
2008		Bob Conley	785,559	42%		Lindsey Graham	1,069,137	58%		Write-ins		608	<1%

*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2002, write-ins received 667 votes.

Notes

External links

• United States Senator Lindsey Grahamofficial U.S. Senate website
• Lindsey Graham for U.S. Senate official campaign website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Profile from the Senate Republican Caucus
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• "Swing Conservative: The perilous bipartisanship of Lindsey Graham." Washington Monthly, April 2005
• "The American Ghosts of Abu Ghraib" by Sam Provance
• Lindsey Graham at the Open Directory Project

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Butler Derrick	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 3rd congressional district 1995 – 2003	Succeeded by J. Gresham Barrett
United States Senate
Preceded by Strom Thurmond	United States Senator (Class 2) from South Carolina 2003-present Served alongside: Ernest Hollings, Jim DeMint	Succeeded by incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Saxby Chambliss R-Georgia	United States Senators by seniority 62nd	Succeeded by Lamar Alexander R-Tennessee