Parliamentarian of the United States House of Representatives
Parliamentarian of the United States House of Representatives | |
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Incumbent Jason Smith since September 2020 | |
Office of the Parliamentarian | |
Type | Parliamentarian |
Appointer | Speaker of the House |
Term length | Serves at the pleasure of the Speaker |
Constituting instrument | 2 U.S.C. ch. 9C |
Formation | 1977 (office) 1927 (position) |
First holder | Lewis Deschler |
Deputy | Deputy Parliamentarian |
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The
Role
The parliamentarian is appointed by the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives without regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of fitness to perform the duties of the position.[2] Advice from the parliamentarian's office is confidential upon request.[3]
The parliamentarian, or an assistant parliamentarian, usually sits or stands to the right of the Speaker or Speaker pro tempore (or the Chair of the
The legitimacy of parliamentary procedure in the House depends on nonpartisan procedural advice that is transparently consistent. The parliamentarian achieves the requisite consistency by fidelity to precedent, and the requisite transparency by publication. The publications of the Office of the Parliamentarian range from a biennial deskbook to a
Probably the most important job of the Office of the Parliamentarian in the long term is the compilation of the precedents. The commitment of the House to the principle of
List of Parliamentarians
The position of parliamentarian was previously known as the "Clerk at the Speaker's table," in which capacity the noted parliamentarian
A parliamentarian has been appointed by the speaker in every Congress since 1927. In the 95th Congress, the House formally established an Office of the Parliamentarian to be managed by a nonpartisan parliamentarian appointed by the speaker (2 U.S.C. § 287). The compilation and distribution of the precedents of the House are authorized by law (2 U.S.C. § 28, et seq.). The current parliamentarian is Jason A. Smith.[6]
The following have served as House parliamentarian:[7]
Order | Name | Title | Term | Congress(es) |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Thaddeus Morrice | Messenger to the Speaker | 1855–1865 | 34th–38th |
2 | William D. Todd | 1863–1869 | 38th–40th | |
3 | John M. Barclay | Clerk at the Speaker's Table | 1869–1875 | 41st–43rd |
4 | William H. Scudder | 1875–1877 | 44th, 45th | |
5 | J. Randolph Tucker Jr. | 1877–1879 | 45th | |
6 | George P. Miller | 1879–1880 | 46th | |
7 | Michael Sullivan | 1879–1881 | 46th | |
(5) | J. Randolph Tucker Jr. | 1879–1881 | 46th | |
(7) | Michael Sullivan | 1881–1883 | 47th | |
8 | J. Guilford White | 1881–1883 | 47th | |
9 | Nathaniel T. Crutchfield | 1883–1891 | 48th–51st | |
10 | Forrest Goodwin | 1889–1891 | 51st | |
11 | Charles Robert Crisp | 1891–1895 | 52nd, 53rd | |
12 | Asher Crosby Hinds
|
1895–1911 | 54th–61st | |
(11) | Charles Robert Crisp | 1911–1913 | 62nd | |
13 | Joel Bennett Clark
|
1913–1917 | 63rd, 64th | |
14 | Clarence Andrew Cannon
|
1917–1919 | 65th | |
(13) | Joel Bennett Clark
|
1917–1919 | 65th | |
15 | Lehr Fess | Clerk at the Speaker's Table
Parliamentarian (70th Congress) |
1919–1927 | 66th–70th |
16 | Lewis Deschler | Parliamentarian | 1927–1974 | 70th–93rd |
17 | William Holmes Brown | 1974–1994 | 93rd–103rd | |
18 | Charles W. Johnson | 1995–2004 | 104th–108th | |
19 | John V. Sullivan | 2004–2012 | 108th–112th | |
20 | Thomas J. Wickham Jr. | 2012–2020 | 112th–116th | |
21 | Jason Smith | 2020–present | 116th–118th |
See also
References
- ^ 2 U.S.C. § 287, et seq.
- ^ 2 U.S.C. § 287a.
- ^ House Rules Committee. Archived 2006-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Bolles, Blair (1951). Tyrant from Illinois: Uncle Joe Cannon's Experiment with Personal Power. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
- ^ Grant, James (2011). Mr. Speaker! The Life and Times of Thomas B. Reed, the Man Who Broke the Filibuster. New York: Simon & Schuster.
- ^ "Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 160 Page H4437-4". congress.gov. Government Publishing Office. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ^ "Parliamentarians of the House". History, Art & Archives | United States House of Representatives. 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2021.