The House Judiciary Committee will see a changing of the guard in the 119th Congress with a new Democratic leader.
Rep. Jerry Nadler announced Wednesday that he would not run to become the committee’s top Democrat, which he has held for the past seven years.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., announced Monday his intention to challenge Nadler for the leadership. Nadler, 77, acknowledged Raskin, 61, in a letter to his colleagues.
“As our country faces the return of Donald Trump, and the new threats he represents to our democracy and our way of life, I am very confident that Jamie will ably lead the Judiciary Committee as we face growing dangers,” he wrote.
Representative Jerry Nadler is pictured before a hearing on November 7, 2023 in Washington, DC.
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Raskin did not immediately comment on Nadler’s decision.
Maryland congressional challenger Democrats worried that Nadler was not strong enough to match the Republican committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.
Raskin is a former chairman of the House Oversight Committee, a constitutional expert and was also on the January 6th Committee. He was also the director general of Trump’s second impeachment over the January 6 riots.
Raskin said in a letter to colleagues that the Judiciary Committee “will be the seat of opposition and MAGA’s campaign against authoritarianism in Congress as we know our Constitutional system and rule of law.”
Jamie Raskin, a member of the House Oversight Committee on Classification, participates in a hearing with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC on November 19, 2024.
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Raskin was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2010 and underwent diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and chemotherapy in 2022 for both diagnosis and surgery for the former. Last year, Raskin said the cancer was in remission.
The congressman noted his cancer survivorship in his letter to colleagues.
“I look forward to being at the center of this fight and, as someone who has battled cancer and chemotherapy, I can tell you that I will never, ever give up,” she wrote.
Representative Jamie Raskin speaks during a press conference with Representative Jerry Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 26, 2019.
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Nadler, who plans to remain on the board, also praised Raskin.
“I am also proud that under my leadership, some of the most talented rising stars in our caucus have been given a platform to showcase their leadership and skills,” he wrote. “That includes Jamie Raskin, who has already proven himself to be an outstanding leader and spokesperson for our party’s values in just a few terms in Congress.
