Patrick Leahy

Guide Note: Democrat Patrick Leahy is the senior Senator from Vermont. He currently served as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Fast Facts:

1. Born March 31, 1940 in Montpelier, Vermont
2. Elected to Senate in 1974
3. Up for re-election in 2011
4. Spouse: Marcelle Pomerleau
5. One of two Senators who received anthrax in the mail in 2001
6. Legally blind in one eye
7. One of 10 Senators to vote against the Patriot Act
8. First Democrat elected to Congress from Vermont since the Civil War
9. Did a guest voice on Batman: The Animated Series
10. Has a brief cameo in The Dark Knight¹

Senate Career

A trained lawyer, Leahy served as the Chittenden County State's Attorney from 1966 to 1974, immediately after which he was elected to the Senate representing Vermont. (Leahy was the youngest Senator in Vermont's history, at 34.) He has since been re-elected 5 times.

Controversy

In 1987, Leahy, then a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was accused of leaking information to a reporter. Though there was no criminal violation, because the information was not classified, Leahy nevertheless resigned from his position on the Committee.

In 2004, while taking a photo alongside Vice President Dick Cheney, the two got into an argument about Leahy's criticism of Halliburton and implication of collusion between the company (Cheney's former employer) and the Bush White House. Cheney allegedly told Leahy, "Go f--k yourself."