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Introduction
Michael S. Lee is an American lawyer and United States Senator for Utah known as one of the leading conservative voices in Congress. Elected in 2010, Lee served as the junior senator alongside Orrin Hatch and is currently Utah’s senior senator with Mitt Romney. Lee belongs to the Republican party and is known for his unwavering defense of Americans’ fundamental liberties and for advocating for principles deeply rooted in the United States Constitution.
Early Life, Education, Pre-Senate Career
Born on June 4, 1971, in Mesa, Arizona, Lee developed a respect for the Constitution early in life as he watched his father, Rex E. Lee, serve as Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan. Lee is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and at 19 years old, he served a two-year mission in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he learned to speak Spanish.
Lee graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, with a degree in political science and served as the Student Body President his senior year. Lee returned to BYU to attend law school, and upon graduation in 1997, he went on to serve as a law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the United States District Court for the District of Utah, and then, the now Supreme Court Justice, Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third District. In 1999, Lee entered private practice at the Washington, D.C. office of the law firm Sidley & Austin, where he specialized in appellate and Supreme Court litigation. Lee returned to Utah in 2002 to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Lee served as general counsel to Governor Jon Huntsman and, in 2007, reunited with Justice Samuel A. Alito for a one-year clerkship at the Supreme Court. Lee again returned to Utah to work for the Salt Lake City office of the law firm Howrey LLP. [1]
Senate Career
In 2010, Lee ran for United States Senate and beat incumbent senator Bob Bennett, winning the general election with 62% of the vote. Utah reelected Lee in both the 2016 and 2022 elections. Lee ranks consistently among the most conservative lawmakers in the Senate, according to the Conservative Political Action Coalition, the Heritage Foundation, and Club for Growth, which all gave Lee a score of 100% in 2023, voting with the conservative position 100% of the time. [2]
In Lee’s first month of office, he co-founded the Senate Tea Party Caucus and introduced a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. [3] A constitutional conservative, Lee’s beliefs encompass limited government, constitutional originalism, and personal liberty. He advocates for lowering the federal deficit, reducing government regulations, and expanding individual freedoms. Lee champions pro-life policies, religious freedom, the Second Amendment, tax reform, and American’s privacy and property rights.
Lee serves as the Ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, in addition to serving on the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands, Forests, and Mining, the Committee on the Budget, and the Joint Economic Committee.
During his tenure in the Joint Economic Committee, Lee created the Social Capital Project, “a multi-year research effort to investigate the evolving nature, quality, and importance of our associational life.” While the Social Capital Project measures the distribution of social capital across the nation, Lee released A Policy Agenda for Social Capital, which proposes specific policies to revitalize and strengthen families, communities, and civil society. [4]
In 2022, President Biden signed into law Lee’s Fixing our Regulatory Mayhem Upsetting Little Americans (FORMULA) Act. The Act targeted supply chain disruptions caused by trade barriers that reduced supply and inflated the price of safe foreign-made infant formulas. [5] Other highlights of Lee’s senate tenure include:
- Advocating against presidential abuses of the Antiquities Act. [6]
- Co-sponsoring a resolution to end the U.S. military unconstitutional support for the Saudi-backed campaign in Yemen.[7]
- Working across the aisle to leverage antitrust laws against big tech.[8]
- Passing the First Step Act and advocating for criminal justice reform. [9]
Personal Life
Lee lives in Utah County with his wife and their three children.
- [1] Mike Lee, US Senator for Utah. "About Mike." Accessed October 21, 2023. https://www.lee.senate.gov/about-mike.
- [2] The Club for Growth. "Congressional Scorecard." Accessed October 21,2023. https://www.clubforgrowth.org/scorecards/app/?party=all&chamber=S&yr=2022&state=all&rep. Heritage Action for America. "Scorecard." Accessed October 21, 2023. https://heritageaction.com/scorecard/search?query=84103. Jenkins, Mike. 2023. "See Who’s On The List: CPAC Releases Rating On Most And Least Conservatives In Congress." Tampa Free Press. April 24. https://www.tampafp.com/cpac-releases-most-least-conservatives-in-congress/.
- [3] Rucker, Philip. 2011. "Sen. Mike Lee: A political insider refashions himself as tea party revolutionary." Washington Post. February 5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/04/AR2011020406719.html.
- [4] Lee, Mike. “An Introduction to the Social Capital Project from U.S. Senator Mike Lee.” Last modified June 1, 2021. Senate Joint Economic Committee. https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/8cb559c4-3764-4706-9009-b4d8565ec820/scp-volume-1-digital-final.pdf.
- [5] Lee, Mike. 2023. "The FORMULA Act.” Senator Mike Lee Annual Report. January 19. https://www.scribd.com/document/628299368/Senator-Mike-Lee-Annual-Report-2022#fullscreen&from_embed.
- [6] Mike Lee, US Senator for Utah. "National Monuments and Antiquities Act Reform." Accessed October 27, 2023. Mike Lee, US Senator for Utah. https://www.lee.senate.gov/presidential-abuses-of-the-antiquities-act.
- [7] Mike Lee, US Senator for Utah. "Press Releases: Sen. Lee Statement on Yemen Resolution Passage." Last modified March 14, 2019. Mike Lee, US Senator for Utah. https://www.lee.senate.gov/2019/3/sen-lee-statement-on-yemen-resolution-passage.
- [8] United States Senator Amy Klobuchar. "News Releases: Klobuchar and Lee Announce First Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights Subcommittee Hearing of the 117th Congress." Last modified on March 5, 2021. United States Senator Amy Klobuchar. https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2021/3/klobuchar-and-lee-announce-first-competition-policy-antitrust-and-consumer-rights-subcommittee-hearing-of-the-117th-congress.
- [9] Mike Lee, US Senator for Utah. "Op-Eds: The Truth about the FIRST STEP Act." Last modified on November 27, 2018. Mike Lee, US Senator for Utah. https://www.lee.senate.gov/2018/11/the-truth-about-the-first-step-act.
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