43 Facts About Dick Durbin

Richard Joseph Durbin was born on November 21,1944 and is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from the state of Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997.

Dick Durbin chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2021 to 2025, and led the Ketanji Brown Jackson Supreme Court nomination hearings.

Dick Durbin graduated from the School of Foreign Service and the Georgetown University Law Center.

Dick Durbin later maintained a private law practice and co-owned a pub in Springfield.

Dick Durbin was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1982, representing the Springfield-based 20th congressional district.

Dick Durbin graduated from Assumption High School in East St Louis in 1962.

Dick Durbin interned in Senator Paul Douglas's office during his senior year in college, and worked on Douglas's unsuccessful 1966 reelection campaign.

Dick Durbin earned his JD from Georgetown University Law Center in 1969 and was admitted to the Illinois bar later that year.

Dick Durbin was legal counsel to Lieutenant Governor Paul Simon from 1969 to 1972, and then legal counsel to the Illinois State Senate Judiciary Committee from 1972 to 1982.

Dick Durbin was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the Illinois State Senate in 1976.

Dick Durbin ran for lieutenant governor in 1978 as the running mate of State Superintendent of Schools Michael Bakalis.

Dick Durbin then worked as an adjunct professor of medical law at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine for five years while maintaining his law practice.

Dick Durbin scored a 1,400-vote victory, defeating 22-year incumbent Paul Findley, a US Navy veteran, whose district lines had been substantially redrawn to remove rural farms and add economically depressed Macon.

Dick Durbin faced Republican State Representative Al Salvi in the general election.

Dick Durbin was reelected in 2002,2008,2014 and 2020, each time by at least 10 points.

Dick Durbin became the first senator from Illinois to serve as a Senate Whip since Everett Dirksen in the late 1950s, and the fifth to serve in Senate leadership.

Dick Durbin served as assistant minority leader from 2005 to 2007, when the Democrats became the majority party in the Senate.

Dick Durbin then assumed the role of assistant majority leader, or majority whip.

Dick Durbin has maintained that this reversal came about due to personal reflection and his growing awareness of potentially harmful implications of his previous policy with respect to women facing dangerous pregnancies.

In September 2020, Durbin voted to confirm judges Stephen McGlynn and David W Dugan, who have criticized Supreme Court rulings such as Roe, to lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary in Illinois.

Dick Durbin received an "F" grade from the National Rifle Association of America for his consistent support for gun control.

Dick Durbin sent Attorney General Jeff Sessions a letter in May 2017 asking for support in expanding the Chicago Police Department's violence prevention programs by expanding access to the Strategic Decision Support Centers and the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.

Dick Durbin asked the Justice Department to support the Stop Illegal Trafficking in Firearms Act, which would stop illegal state-to-state gun trafficking.

Dick Durbin is the chief proponent of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act.

Dick Durbin added that many of the banks responsible for the crisis "own the place", referring to the power the banking lobby wields on Capitol Hill.

Dick Durbin justified the tariff by joining Barack Obama in stating that "ethanol imports are neither necessary nor a practical response to current gasoline prices", arguing instead that domestic ethanol production is sufficient and expanding.

Dick Durbin stated that no United States Senate appointment of Blagojevich's could produce a credible replacement.

Dick Durbin has been a major proponent of expanded Amtrak funding and support.

Dick Durbin reintroduced the Fair Elections Now Act during the 112th Congress.

Dick Durbin was one of 40 senators to co-sponsor the bill.

Dick Durbin received media attention on June 14,2005, when in the US Senate chambers he compared interrogation techniques used at Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay, as reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, to those utilized by such regimes as Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and the Khmer Rouge:.

Dick Durbin had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night.

Dick Durbin's comments drew widespread criticism that comparing US actions to such regimes insulted the United States and victims of genocide.

Dick Durbin voted to approve the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists.

Dick Durbin was one of few senators who read the resulting October 1,2002, NIE, Iraq's Continuing Programs for Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Dick Durbin spearheaded a nonbinding resolution in July 2018 "warning President Trump not to let the Russian government question diplomats and other officials".

Dick Durbin was participating in the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when pro-Trump rioters attacked the US Capitol.

Dick Durbin then evacuated to a secure location with Pelosi, McConnell and Schumer.

Dick Durbin said Senator Josh Hawley was partially responsible for the attack.

Dick Durbin called for Trump's removal through the invocation of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution or impeachment.

Dick Durbin's wife was a lobbyist, and it was reported by the Chicago Tribune in 2014 that some of her "clients have received federal funding promoted by [Dick Durbin]".

Dick Durbin responded to the communion ban in 2004 that he is accountable to his constituents, even if it means defying Church teachings.

Dick Durbin wrote that judges could recuse themselves from hearing matters if their faith conflicted with issues to be decided in cases they might otherwise hear.