Ron Wyden
U.S. Senator from Oregon
Ronald Lee Wyden was born in May 1949 in Wichita, Kansas. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, on a basketball scholarship, and later transferred to Stanford University, where he received his undergraduate degree. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Oregon School of Law.
While teaching gerontology at several Oregon universities, Wyden founded the Oregon chapter of the Gray Panthers. He was also director of the Oregon Legal Services Center for the Elderly and served on the Oregon State Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators.
He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served 15 years until being elected in a special election to the United States Senate. He assumed office in February 1996.
He is divorced from Laurie, with whom he has two children, and is married to Nancy and they have three children. Wyden is Jewish.
In the News…
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced the “Judicial Modernization and Transparency Act,“ which would expand the U.S. Supreme Court from 9 justices to 15 over a twelve-year span. The bill would also implement an ethics code, require justices to respond to recusal motions publicly, and authorize the Internal Revenue Service to audit justices and publish the results.
“The Supreme Court is in crisis and bold solutions are necessary to restore the public trust,” Senator Wyden stated. “More transparency, more accountability and more checks on a power hungry Supreme Court are just what the American people are asking for.”
The legislation would require “the public disclosure of how each justice voted for any case within the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court” and calls for a two-thirds “supermajority” of either the Supreme Court or appellate courts to overturn congressional acts that are deemed unconstitutional.
Even after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, surveys have shown that the majority of American voters are not in favor of adding justices to the high court, or of congressional amendments that would restructure it.
Contact this Leader…
Did you pray for Senator Wyden today? You can let him know at:
The Honorable Ron Wyden
Senator from Oregon
221 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
