Lamar Smith represents the 21st Congressional District of Texas. Congressman Smith maintains strong ties with the people he serves while taking an active role in achieving policy solutions that benefit our country.

In January 2011, he was selected by his colleagues to serve as the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Established in 1813, the House Judiciary Committee is the second oldest standing committee in Congress. In the last Congress over one thousand bills and resolutions were referred to the Judiciary Committee on such subjects as terrorism, crime, immigration, bankruptcy, civil liberties, constitutional amendments, and patents and copyrights. Lamar Smith is the first Republican Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee from Texas.

In 2011, Congressman Smith was named Policymaker of the Year by POLITICO for his work on patent reform legislation. His bill, the America Invents Act, was the only major tech legislation signed into law in 2011. He was one of only two House members to receive this honor.

Congressman Smith also serves on both the Homeland Security Committee, which considers legislation involving the war on terror, and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, which has jurisdiction over renewable energy policies, research and science education, technology and innovation, and America’s space program.

Congressman Smith is a former Chairman of the Ethics Committee and a former member of the Budget Committee. During his time on the Budget Committee, Congress achieved the first balanced budget in over twenty years and he established himself as a fiscal conservative focused on reining in excessive government spending.

Congressman Smith founded both the Media Fairness Caucus and the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus, which are active Congressional organizations.

A 5th generation Texan and a native of San Antonio, Congressman Smith graduated from Yale University and Southern Methodist University School of Law. Before his election to the House of Representatives, he practiced law, managed a family ranch and began his public service as a Texas state representative and Bexar County Commissioner. He and his wife, Beth, have an adult daughter and son.

The 21st Congressional District includes portions of Bexar and Travis Counties and all of Comal, Real, Kerr, Bandera, Kendall and Blanco Counties. The district’s population is about 700,000.

Immigration, Center for immigration studies, Center for Immigration Studies (CIS.org),