Jamie Raskin
Official portrait, 2019
Ranking Member of theHouse Judiciary Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2025
Preceded by	Jerry Nadler
Ranking Member of theHouse Oversight Committee
In office January 3, 2023 – January 3, 2025
Preceded by	James Comer
Succeeded by	Gerry Connolly
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMaryland's8th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2017
Preceded by	Chris Van Hollen
Member of theMaryland Senate from the20th district
In office January 10, 2007 – November 10, 2016
Preceded by	Ida G. Ruben
Succeeded by	Will Smith
Personal details
Born	Jamin Ben Raskin (1962-12-13)December 13, 1962 (age 62) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Sarah Bloom ​ (m. 1990)​
Children	3[note 1]
Parents	Marcus Raskin (father) Barbara Bellman (mother)
Relatives	Max Raskin (great uncle)
Education	Harvard University (BA,JD)
Signature
Website	House website Campaign website
Raskin's voice Raskin on debate rules for the day's legislative calendar Recorded May 10, 2022

Jamin Ben Raskin (born December 13, 1962) is an American attorney, law professor, and politician serving as theU.S. representative forMaryland's 8th congressional district since 2017. A member of theDemocratic Party, he served in theMaryland State Senate from 2007 to 2016.^[2] The district previously included portions ofMontgomery County, a suburban county northwest of Washington, D.C., and extended through ruralFrederick County to the Pennsylvania border. Since redistricting in 2022, Raskin's district encompasses much of Montgomery County and a sliver of Prince George's County.

Raskin co-chairs theCongressional Freethought Caucus. He was the leadimpeachment manager forthe second impeachment of President Donald Trump in response to theattack on the U.S. Capitol.^[3][4] Before his election to Congress, Raskin was aconstitutional law professor atAmerican University Washington College of Law, where he co-founded and directed theLL.M. program on law and government and co-founded theMarshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project.^[5][6]

Jamin Ben Raskin^[2] was born in Washington, D.C., on December 13, 1962,^[7] toJewish parentsBarbara (née Bellman) Raskin andMarcus Raskin. His name is a variant of that of his paternal grandfather, Benjamin Raskin.^[8] His mother was a journalist and novelist,^[9] and his father was a former staff aide toPresident John F. Kennedy on theNational Security Council, co-founder of theInstitute for Policy Studies, and a progressive activist.^[10][11] Raskin's ancestors immigrated to the U.S. from Russia.^[12]

Raskin graduated fromGeorgetown Day School in 1979 at age 16, and thenmagna cum laude andPhi Beta Kappa fromHarvard College in 1983 with aBachelor of Arts in government with a concentration inpolitical theory. In 1987, he received aJuris Doctormagna cum laude from theHarvard Law School, where he was an editor of theHarvard Law Review.^[13]

For more than 25 years, Raskin was aconstitutional law professor atAmerican University Washington College of Law,^[14] where he taught future fellowimpeachment managerStacey Plaskett.^[15] He co-founded and directed theLL.M. program on law and government and co-founded theMarshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project.^[5][6]

From 1989 to 1990, Raskin served asgeneral counsel forJesse Jackson'sNational Rainbow Coalition.^[16] In 1996, he representedRoss Perot regarding Perot's exclusion from the1996 United States presidential debates. Raskin wrote aWashington Post op-ed that strongly condemned theFederal Election Commission and theCommission on Presidential Debates for their decisions.^[17]

In 1999, Maryland GovernorParris Glendening appointed Raskin as the first chairman of the Maryland State Higher Education Labor Relations Board. He later served asDoug Gansler's campaign manager in the2006 Maryland Attorney General election.^[18]

Raskin was elected to theMaryland Senate in2006 after defeating incumbent state senatorIda G. Ruben in the Democratic primary election, in which he ran to the left of Ruben, and ran unopposed in the general election.^[19][20] He representedDistrict 20, which included parts ofSilver Spring andTakoma Park in Montgomery County. In 2012, Raskin was named Senatemajority whip and chaired the Montgomery County Senate Delegation and the Select Committee on Ethics Reform, and was a member of the Judicial Proceedings Committee.^[11]

Raskin described himself as a "hands-on progressive" while in the legislature,^[18] sponsoring bills advocating the repeal ofthe death penalty in Maryland, the expansion of the stateignition interlock device program, and the establishment of the legal guidelines forbenefit corporations, a type of for-profit corporation that includes a material societal benefit in its bylaws and decision-making processes.^{[21][22][23][24]} A former board member ofFairVote, he introduced and sponsored the first bill in the country for theNational Popular Vote, a plan for an interstate compact to provide for presidential election by popular vote.^[25] Raskin long championed efforts to reform marijuana laws and legalizemedical marijuana in Maryland.^[26][27] He introduced a medical marijuana bill in 2014 that was signed by GovernorMartin O'Malley and went into effect in January 2015.^[28]

Raskin helped lead the fight to legalizesame-sex marriage in Maryland.^[29] On March 1, 2006, during a Maryland State Senate hearing on same-sex marriage, Raskin was noted for his response to an opposing lawmaker: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold theConstitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."^{[30][31][32][33]}

On April 19, 2015,The Baltimore Sun andThe Washington Post reported that Raskin announced his campaign for Congress and said, in response to observations that his positions were notably left-of-center, "My ambition is not to be in the political center, it is to be in the moral center." The district's seven-term incumbent,Chris Van Hollen, gave up the seatto run for theUnited States Senate.^[34][35]

During the primary, Raskin was endorsed by the Progressive Action PAC, the political arm of theCongressional Progressive Caucus, which grew from 72 members at the time of the endorsement to 92 members in early 2020.^[36] Raskin won the seven-way Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—with 33% of the vote.^[37] He was viewed as the most liberal candidate in the race.^[29] The primary election was the most expensive House race in 2016, and Raskin was heavily outspent.^[38]

During the general election, Raskin was endorsed by theBernie Sanders-affiliated political organizing networkOur Revolution,^[39] and the community organizing effortPeople's Action.^[40] He defeated Republican nomineeDan Cox with 60% of the vote.^[41]

As one of his first actions in Congress, Raskin and several other members of the House objected to the certification of the2016 presidential election in favor ofDonald Trump due to alleged ties with Russia, andRussia's interference in the 2016 election, as well as voter suppression efforts. Then-Vice President Joe Biden ruled their objection out of order because it had to be sponsored by at least one member of each chamber, and it had no Senate sponsor.^[42] Raskin questioned the legitimacy of the election, claiming it was "badly tainted by everything from cyber-sabotage by Vladimir Putin, to deliberate voter suppression by Republicans in numerous swing states".^[43]

In April 2018, Raskin,Jared Huffman,Jerry McNerney, andDan Kildee launched theCongressional Freethought Caucus. Its stated goals include "pushing public policy formed on the basis of reason, science, and moral values", promoting the "separation of church and state", and opposing discrimination against "atheists, agnostics,humanists, seekers, religious, and nonreligious persons".^[44] Huffman and Raskin are co-chairs.^[4]

On January 12, 2021, Raskin was named the leadimpeachment manager forthe Senate impeachment trial held after Trump'ssecond impeachment.^[45] He was the primary author of the impeachment article, along with RepresentativesDavid Cicilline andTed Lieu, which charged Trump with inciting aninsurrection on the United States Capitol. During the Senate trial, Raskin recounted that after being there on January 6 as the mob was forcibly entering, his daughter said to him, "Dad, I don't want to come back to the Capitol".^[46]

In February 2022, while his wife was under consideration for a position as the Federal Reserve's vice chair of supervision, it was reported that Raskin violated theStop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act by failing to properly disclose her share dealings. One instance was when his wife received stock for advising a Colorado-based financial technology trust company, and the other was when she sold stock in Reserve Trust for $1.5 million, but the sale was not disclosed for eight months. His wife had sat on the advisory board of the Federal Reserve when it "granted Reserve Trust unusual access to its master account", but it is not clear when she first acquired the shares.^[47]

On July 1, 2021, Raskin was one of seven Democrats appointed to theHouse Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack by SpeakerNancy Pelosi.^[48] Following the announcement, Raskin said, "As Chair of the Oversight Committee's Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee, I've helped lead the Oversight Committee's painstaking investigation into violent white supremacy over the last two years. TheDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) has declareddomestic violent extremism the number one security threat in the country. We saw that threat explode right in front of our eyes at the Capitol on January 6."^[49]

On July 12, 2022, Raskin co-led the Select Committee's seventh public hearing with RepresentativeStephanie Murphy. The hearing focused on the role the far-right extremist groupsProud Boys andOath Keepers played in organizing the attack. It also discussed the importance of Trump's December 19 tweet "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" and how it spread to his supporters. To show the impact, the committee played recordings of its interview with an anonymous Twitter employee who worked from 2020 to 2021 and was on the team responsible for the platform's content moderation policies. During the interview, they said that the tweet served as a "call to action, and in some cases as a call to arms" to his supporters.^[50]

According to his closing statement of the July 12 hearing, Raskin opened by emphasizing the importance of the December 19 tweet: "When Donald Trump sent out his tweet, he became the first president ever to call for a crowd to descend on the capital city to block the constitutional transfer of power." He later summarized the second focus of the hearing: "On January 6, Trump knew the crowd was angry. He knew the crowd was armed. He sent them to the Capitol anyway." Raskin concluded his statement, "We need to defend both our democracy and our freedom with everything we have and declare that this American carnage ends here and now. In a world of resurgent authoritarianism and racism and antisemitism, let’s all hang tough for American democracy."^[51][52]

Raskin was nominated for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize for his "defense of freedom and democracy," along with the other members of the January 6th Committee.^[53]

• United States House Committee on the Judiciary (Ranking Member)
  • As Ranking Member of the Committee, Rep. Raskin is entitled to sit as anex officio member in all subcommittee meetings, per the committee's rules.

• Black Maternal Health Caucus^[54]
• House Democratic Caucus, Senior Whip
• House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee,
• Congressional Progressive Caucus,^[55] Vice Chair and Liaison to New Members
• Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus^[56]
• House Pro-Choice Caucus
• House Public Education Caucus
• House Quiet Skies Caucus
• House 115th Class Caucus
• House Baltic Caucus^[57]
• Congressional Freethought Caucus, co-founder and co-chair^[58]
• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus^[59]
• Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans^[60]
• Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus^[61]
• Congressional Solar Caucus^[62]
• Medicare for All Caucus
• Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment^[63]
• Congressional Taiwan Caucus^[64]
• Rare Disease Caucus^[65]

In 2019, Raskin cosponsored SenatorCory Booker's Farm System Reform Act, which would have imposed a moratorium on the construction of newconcentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), phased out large CAFOs over 20 years, and created a fund to transition farmers away fromintensive animal farming to other agricultural operations.^[66]

In July 2022, Raskin led a letter by 32 members of Congress to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health asking the Biden administration to require that all federal facilities offer a dailyvegetarian entrée option.^[67] In September 2022, the White House National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health included a nonbinding pledge to increaseplant-based offerings across federal facilities, includingfederal buildings,national parks,prisons,military bases, andVeterans Affairs hospitals.^[68] In March 2024, Raskin led a letter by 55 members of Congress urging the administration to follow through with the proposal and increase plant-based offerings.^[69]

In March 2023, Raskin voted against H.Con.Res. 21, which directed PresidentJoe Biden to remove U.S. troops fromSyria within 180 days.^[70][71]

On November 17, 2023, Raskin called for a humanitarian pause in theGaza war or a "mutually agreed-upon cease-fire" that would "provide for a ‘global humanitarian surge’ of aid to hundreds of thousands of displaced and suffering innocent civilians throughout Gaza."^[72] In August 2025, Raskin cosponsored the "Block the Bombs Act", which would block offensive weapons to Israel.^[73]

Raskin supports banning discrimination based onsexual orientation andgender identity. In 2019, he voted in favor of theEquality Act and urged Congress members to do the same.^[74][75]

In June 2017, Raskin was the chief sponsor of legislation to establish a congressional "oversight" commission which would be tasked with determining whether the president was unfit, physically or mentally, to perform his duties. The commission's evaluation could support removing the president from office under theTwenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.^[76][77]

Raskin is married toSarah Bloom Raskin, who served as the Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation from 2007 to 2010. They live inTakoma Park, Maryland.^[78]President Barack Obama nominated Bloom Raskin to theFederal Reserve Board on April 28, 2010.^[79] On October 4, 2010, she was sworn in as a governor of the Federal Reserve Board byFed ChairmanBen Bernanke.^[80] PresidentJoe Biden nominated her for chair of the Federal Reserve Board, but Republicans boycotted her committee hearing andJoe Manchin opposed her because of her views on the use of monetary policy to addressclimate change. Given that stalemate, she withdrew her nomination.^[81] She served as theUnited States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from March 19, 2014, to January 20, 2017.^[82]

The Raskins have two daughters, Hannah and Tabitha, and had a son named Tommy. On December 31, 2020, Raskin's office announced that his son Tommy, a graduate ofMontgomery Blair High School, a graduate ofAmherst College, and a second-year student at Harvard Law School, had died at the age of 25.^[83] On January 4, 2021, Raskin and his wife posted a tribute to their son online that stated that, after a prolonged battle withdepression, he had died by suicide.^[84][85] In a farewell note, Tommy said, "Please forgive me. My illness won today. Look after each other, the animals, and the global poor. All my love, Tommy."^[86] Tommy was buried on January 5, 2021. The next day, Raskin was in theCapitol with his daughter and son-in-law during theCapitol attack.^[87][88] Hours later, he began drafting anarticle of impeachment against President Trump, and six days later,House SpeakerNancy Pelosi named Raskin the lead manager ofTrump's second impeachment.^[89][90] His 2022 bookUnthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy focuses on his son's life and his preparation for the impeachment trial.^[91] He was also the subject of aMSNBC documentary film titled "Love & The Constitution", which covered his first three years in Congress and his fight to uphold the constitution during Trump's presidency. The film also captured the loss of his son and Raskin’s appointment as lead impeachment manager in Trump's second impeachment trial.^[92]

Raskin has beenvegetarian since 2009.^[93]

In May 2010, Raskin was diagnosed withcolon cancer. He received six weeks ofradiation andchemotherapy, and surgery to remove part of his colon, followed by more chemotherapy through early 2011.^[94]

In December 2022, Raskin announced that he had been diagnosed withdiffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and said he would undergochemoimmunotherapy,^[95][96] which he completed in April 2023.^[97] To mask the hair loss which occurred because of the treatments, Raskin often publicly wore bandannas, some of which were gifts from musician and actorSteven Van Zandt, who has long worn one as a trademark.^[98] On April 27, 2023, he said the cancer was in remission.^[99]

• The Wealth Primary: Campaign Fundraising and the Constitution (1994) (withJohn Bonifaz)^[100]
• Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court versus the American People (2003)^[101]
• We the Students: Supreme Court Cases for and about Students (2014)^[102]
• Youth Justice in America (2014) (with Maryam Ahranjani and Andrew G. Ferguson)^[103]
• Unthinkable —Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy (2022)^[2]
• How to Force Justices Alito and Thomas to Recuse Themselves in the Jan. 6 Cases (2024)^[104]

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