Jamie Raskin: The Constitutional Scholar Fighting for Democracy’s Soul
Few figures in modern American politics embody the collision of legal scholarship, personal tragedy, and constitutional crisis quite like Jamie Raskin. Since 2017, the Maryland Democrat has gone from a respected but relatively low-profile law professor to a national symbol of the fight to defend democratic institutions, thrust into the spotlight by two of the most tumultuous events in recent U.S. history: the January 6 Capitol attack and the second impeachment of Donald Trump.
From Harvard to the Maryland Senate
Born Jamin Ben Raskin on December 13, 1962, in Washington, D.C., Raskin grew up in a deeply progressive, politically active Jewish family . His father, Marcus Raskin, was a former National Security Council aide to President John F. Kennedy and co-founder of the Institute for Policy Studies, a prominent progressive think tank .
Raskin's academic credentials are formidable. He graduated from Harvard College magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1983, then earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1987, where he served as an editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review . After law school, he spent over 25 years as a constitutional law professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, where he co-founded the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, which sends law students into public high schools to teach the Constitution .
But Raskin was never content to remain in the classroom. He entered Maryland state politics and was elected to the Maryland Senate in 2006, representing parts of Silver Spring and Takoma Park . During his three terms in Annapolis, he earned a reputation as a "hands-on progressive," building coalitions to deliver landmark legislation including marriage equality, the abolition of the death penalty, and the nation's first National Popular Vote law .
It was during this period that Raskin delivered one of his most memorable lines. At a 2006 hearing on same-sex marriage, an opposing lawmaker argued from religious scripture. Raskin responded: "Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. You did not place your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible" .
Entering Congress and Confronting Trump
Raskin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2016, winning Maryland's 8th District—the same night Donald Trump was first elected president . From the outset, Raskin positioned himself as a fierce constitutional watchdog. He objected to the certification of the 2016 election results, citing Russian interference and voter suppression . In 2018, he co-founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus, a group dedicated to promoting the separation of church and state and public policy based on reason and science .
But the defining moment of Raskin's political career came on January 6, 2021.
January 6 and the Second Impeachment
Raskin was present at the Capitol when the insurrection unfolded. He had just buried his son, Tommy Raskin, who had died by suicide just days earlier on December 31, 2020 . It was Tommy who, after the 2018 midterms, had urged his father to remain in Congress to defend democracy. Raskin later recalled that his daughter, after surviving the January 6 attack, told him, "Dad, I don't want to come back to the Capitol" .
Just six days after the attack, Raskin was named lead impeachment manager for President Trump's second impeachment trial, charged with inciting an insurrection . He was the primary author of the single impeachment article. The trial ended with a 57-43 vote to convict—the most bipartisan margin for conviction in a presidential impeachment trial in American history—though it fell ten votes short of the two-thirds threshold required for conviction .
Raskin also served on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack, helping to deliver the committee's criminal referral of Trump to the Justice Department . He wrote a bestselling book about this period, Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth and the Trials of American Democracy, which became a #1 New York Times bestseller .
Current Role and Recent Actions
As of the 119th Congress (2025–2027), Raskin serves as the Ranking Member—the top Democrat—on the powerful House Judiciary Committee . He previously served as Ranking Member on the Oversight Committee from 2023 to 2025 .
In recent months, Raskin has continued his aggressive oversight role. In May 2026, he authored a letter to the acting attorney general demanding details about Justice Department settlements with FBI agents suspended for misconduct, alleging that the Trump administration had paid millions in taxpayer dollars to "disgraced agents" . Among the cases he highlighted: an agent who received over $63,500 plus backpay after being disciplined for allegedly lying about his presence during the January 6 attack .
More recently, in January 2026, Raskin announced he would oppose legislation funding the Department of Homeland Security, condemning what he called ICE's "reign of terror" under Secretary Kristi Noem. His statement cited specific incidents, including the shooting of a Minnesota woman by a masked ICE agent, and declared: "Rather than funding Trump's Gangster State, we must rebuild our democratic institutions, defend our Constitution and stand strong against the throes of authoritarianism" .
The Constitutional Scholar in Action
Throughout his career, from the Maryland Senate to the floor of the U.S. House, Jamie Raskin has remained at his core a constitutional scholar. His response to a lawmaker citing the Bible against same-sex marriage in 2006 is the same instinct that drives his impeachment work, his January 6 investigation, and his oversight of the Justice Department: the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, and no person—not a president, not an agency head, not a federal agent—is above it.
He once said of his political ambitions: "My ambition is not to be in the political center, it is to be in the moral center" . In an era of deep division, Raskin has charted a course defined not by poll-tested moderation but by constitutional principle—and an unshakable belief that democracy is worth fighting for, even in the face of personal and national tragedy.