Jamie Raskin

Jamie Raskin
photo of Jamie Raskin
Member-elect of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 8th district
Taking office
January 3, 2017
Succeeding Chris Van Hollen
Member of the Maryland Senate
from the 20th district
Assumed office
January 10, 2007
Majority Whip of the Maryland Senate
Assumed office
2012
Personal details
Born (1962-12-13) December 13, 1962
Washington, D.C.
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Sarah Bloom Raskin[1]
Parents Marcus Raskin[1]
Barbara Bellman Raskin[1]
Residence Takoma Park, Maryland[1]
Alma mater Harvard University[1]
Harvard Law School[1]
Occupation Law professor, American University Washington College of Law[1]
Religion Jewish[2]

Jamin B. "Jamie" Raskin[1] (born on December 13, 1962) is an American law professor and politician. He teaches constitutional law and legislation at American University, Washington College of Law, in Washington, D.C. He serves as the Director of the college's LL.M. program on Law and Government.

Since November 2006, he has served as a Maryland State Senator for District 20,[3] representing parts of Silver Spring and Takoma Park, cities in Montgomery County. In 2012 he was named the Majority Whip for the Senate, and is the Chairman of the Montgomery County Senate Delegation, Chairman of the Select Committee on Ethics Reform, and a Member of the Judicial Proceedings Committee.[4]

On November 8, 2016, Raskin won the election as the Democratic candidate to represent Maryland's 8th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives, which was being vacated by incumbent Chris Van Hollen, who successfully ran for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Barbara Mikulski.[5]

Personal life

Raskin was born in Washington, D.C. on December 13, 1962[1] to a Jewish family,[6][4] the son of progressive activist Marcus Raskin, a former staff aide to President John F. Kennedy on the National Security Council and co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies, and Barbara (née Bellman) Raskin, a journalist and novelist. He graduated from Georgetown Day School in 1979, and from Harvard College (magna cum laude) in 1983, and from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude) in 1987. He is a past editor of the Harvard Law Review.

He is married to Sarah Bloom Raskin, who served as the Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation from 2007-2010, and was nominated by President Barack Obama to the Federal Reserve Board on April 28, 2010.[7] On October 4, 2010, she was sworn in as a governor of the Federal Reserve Board by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.[8] She is the current United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.[9]

Campaign for Congress

The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post reported that Raskin announced his campaign on April 19, 2015, stating that,"[m]y ambition is not to be in the political center, it is to be in the moral center."[10][11] The Baltimore Sun also reported in October 2015 that Raskin has received more financial support from voters within his district than any other non-incumbent Democratic candidate in the country.[12]

Legislative Record

Raskin has been a strong proponent of liberal issues in the Maryland Senate. He has been the sponsor of bills advocating same-sex marriage, the repeal of the death penalty in Maryland, the expansion of the state Ignition interlock device program, and the establishment of the legal guidelines for Benefit Corporations, a corporate form for-profit entities that wish to consider a material societal benefit in their bylaws and decision making process.[13][14][15][16]

A former board member of FairVote, Raskin introduced and sponsored the first bill in the country for the National Popular Vote, a plan for an interstate compact to provide for the first popular presidential election in American history.[17]

In March 1, 2006, during a Maryland State Senate hearing regarding same-sex marriage, Raskin, speaking as a constitutional law expert, told a lawmaker, "People place their hand on the Bible and swear to uphold the Constitution; they don't put their hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible."[18][19][20]

Raskin also introduced Senate legislation to legalize medical marijuana in Maryland in 2014. The bill was signed by Martin O'Malley and went into effect in January 2015.[21]

Author

Raskin is the author of We the Students: Supreme Court Cases for and about Students,[22] and Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court versus the American People,[23] Raskin, Maryam Ahranjani, and Andrew G. Ferguson co-authored Youth Justice in America.[24] Raskin and John Bonifaz also coauthored The Wealth Primary: Campaign Fundraising and the Constitution[25]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Friends of Jamin Raskin (2006). "Biography". Jamie Raskin for State Senate campaign. Archived from the original on August 27, 2006. Retrieved May 4, 2006.
  2. ↑ Zauzmer, Julie. "The man billed as the first atheist who could be bound for Congress isn't actually an atheist at all". The Washington Post. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  3. ↑ "Official 2006 Gubernatorial General Election results for State Senator". Maryland State Board of Elections. 2006. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  4. 1 2 "Jamin B. (Jamie) Raskin". Maryland Manual On-line. Maryland State Archives.
  5. ↑ Turque, Bill (April 19, 2015). "State Sen. Jamie Raskin announces run for Van Hollen seat". The Washington Post.
  6. ↑ Rachel Levmore (May 2, 2012). "Should the Government 'Get' Involved? - State Laws Target Men Who Refuse to Grant Religious Divorce", The Forward
  7. ↑ Reddy, Sudeep (April 29, 2010), "Obama Nominates Yellen, Raskin, Diamond to Fed Board", The Wall Street Journal.
  8. ↑ Fed Press Release federalreserve.gov, October 4, 2010 (October 9, 2010)
  9. ↑ "Sarah Bloom Raskin".
  10. ↑ Fritze, John (April 19, 2015), Raskin Announces Bid for Congress.
  11. ↑ Turque, Bill (April 19, 2015), State Sen. Jamie Raskin announces run for Van Hollen seat.
  12. ↑ Fritze, John (October 26, 2015), Raskin Endorsed by Dumais, MayDay PAC.
  13. ↑ Raskin, Jamie; et al. (January 25, 2008). "Senate Bill 290 (2008)". Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  14. ↑ Raskin, Jamie; et al. (January 18, 2013). "Senate Bill 276 (2013)". Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  15. ↑ Raskin, Jamie; et al. (January 25, 2008). "Senate Bill 803 (2011)". Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  16. ↑ Raskin, Jamie; et al. (February 10, 2010). "Senate Bill 690 (2010)". Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  17. ↑ Raskin, Jamie; et al. (February 2, 2007). "Senate Bill 634 (2007)" (PDF). Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  18. ↑ "Sun News Digest". The Baltimore Sun. March 2, 2006. p. 2.A. Abstract of archived news article, provided by the newspaper's archiving service.
  19. ↑ "Emotions flare over same-sex marriage". The Baltimore Sun. March 2, 2006. Archived from the original on June 17, 2006. Retrieved April 17, 2006. Archived on raskin06.com, Mr Raskin's political campaign web site.
  20. ↑ Urban Legends Reference Pages (March 28, 2006). "Jamie Raskin". Snopes. Retrieved October 20, 2010.
  21. ↑ Raskin, Jamie; et al. (January 31, 2014). "Senate Bill 924 (2007)". Retrieved September 11, 2014.
  22. ↑ Raskin, Jamie B. (July 1, 2014), We the Students: Supreme Court Cases for and about Students (Fourth ed.), CQ Press, ISBN 978-1-4833-1919-3
  23. ↑ Raskin, Jamin B. (February 14, 2003), Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court versus The American People, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415934398
  24. ↑ Raskin, Jamin B.; Ahranjani, Maryam; Ferguson, Andrew G. (July 28, 2014), Youth Justice in America (Second ed.), CQ Press, ISBN 978-1483319162.
  25. ↑ Raskin, Jamin B.; Bonifaz, John, The Wealth Primary:Campaign Fundraising and the Constitution, Center for Responsive Politics, ISBN 978-0939715213.
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