Howard Lawrence Berman (born April 15, 1941) is an American attorney and retired politician who served as a
U.S. representative from
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
from 1983 to 2013. A member of the
Democratic Party, he represented the state's
26th congressional district until redistricting and the
28th congressional district—which both encompassed parts of the
San Fernando Valley—for a combined 15 terms.
Early life, education, and legal career
Berman was born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, to
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
parents, the son of Eleanor (née Schapiro) and Joseph Berman. His maternal grandparents immigrated from
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. He graduated from
Alexander Hamilton High School in 1959 and earned his
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in
international relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...
in 1962 and his
LL.B.
Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...
in 1965 at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
. Blanche Bettington, his high school civics teacher, inspired him to enter politics and government.
He was a
VISTA
Vista usually refers to a distant view.
Vista may also refer to:
Software
*Windows Vista, the line of Microsoft Windows client operating systems released in 2006 and 2007
* VistA, (Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture) ...
volunteer (1966–1967) in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
and
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, and was an
associate at a
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
law firm, Levy, Van Bourg & Hackler (1967–72) specializing in
labor relations
Labor relations is a field of study that can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In an international context, it is a subfield of labor history that studies the human relations with regard to work in its broadest ...
.
["Howard L Berman", ''Carroll's Federal Directory'', Carroll Publishing, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K2415002198. Fee, via Fairfax County Public Library.]["Howard Lawrence Berman." Marquis Who's Who TM. ]Marquis Who's Who
Marquis Who's Who ( or ) is an American publisher of a number of directories containing short biographies. The books usually are entitled ''Who's Who in...'' followed by some subject, such as ''Who's Who in America'', ''Who's Who of American Wome ...
, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale
A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).[Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills are a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California.
Geography
The Hollywood Hills straddle the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains.
The neighborhood touches Studio City, Univer ...]
, unseating the incumbent Republican speaker pro tempore. His brother Michael, campaign manager in Henry Waxman
Henry Arnold Waxman (born September 12, 1939) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1975 to 2015. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
His district included much of the western part of the city of ...
's 1968 Assembly race, again ran a targeted mail operation.
Tenure
In 1974, Berman and Waxman both opposed Willie Brown's unsuccessful revolt against Speaker of the California State Assembly Leo McCarthy, who rewarded Berman's loyalty by appointing him the youngest majority leader in Assembly history. McCarthy fired Berman when Berman tried to replace him in 1980. Although McCarthy failed to retain the speakership, Berman failed to win it and Brown became speaker. Other members remarked on what a tough politician he was; the Bermans helped arrange a primary defeat for at least one colleague ( Jack R. Fenton) who had opposed his bid.
Committee assignments
He also served as Chairman of the Assembly Democratic Caucus and on the Policy Research Management Committee of the Assembly.[
]
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
1982
After redistricting made the 26th district significantly more Democratic, incumbent Republican Congressman John Harbin Rousselot decided to run in California's 30th congressional district in 1982. Berman won the Democratic primary for the open seat with 83% of the vote, and the general election with 60% of the vote.
1984 through 2010
Berman was reelected 14 times, never dropping below 61% of the vote, from 1984 through 2010.
The 2000 census allocated California one new House seat, 53 in all. Berman, "dad of the delegation" on redistricting, made a deal with Republicans Tom Davis and David Dreier
David Timothy Dreier OAE (/ draɪər/; born July 5, 1952) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California from 1981 to 2013. He was one ...
to keep 34 safe seats for Democrats, add one new Republican district, and protect nineteen incumbent Republicans. Many California Democrats in the House and California State Senate hired Michael Berman, Howard Berman's brother, as a redistricting consultant, for a fee of $20,000 each. When the August 2001 plan was unveiled, Congressman Brad Sherman
Bradley James Sherman (born October 24, 1954) is an American accountant and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 30th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in ...
, a fellow Democrat from California, complained that it undermined the safety of his seat with too many Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
voters, saying, "Howard Berman stabbed me in the back." Berman agreed to redraw the boundary between their districts, giving himself 56% and Sherman 37% Latino population. The redistricting plan survived a court challenge from the MALDEF
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is a national non-profit civil rights organization formed in 1968 by Jack Greenberg to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States."MALDEF" entry in ''Los Angeles A to Z: An ...
, which argued that the redistricting diluted Hispanic representation.[ The Republicans suffered some slippage; they had only 19 members in the delegation to the ]110th Congress
The 110th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2009, during the last two years of the Presidency of George W. Bush. It was composed of ...
.[
From 2001 to 2006, Berman paid his brother Michael Berman's consulting firm Berman & D'Agostino $195,000 from campaign funds.] In the 2002 campaign, Berman & D'Agostino was paid $75,000 in political consulting fees. In 2005, $50,000 in consulting fees were paid to the company, and Michael Berman himself was paid a further $80,500 in campaign management and consulting fees. In 2006, $70,000 was paid in consulting fees.
2012
Following redistricting, Berman decided to run in the newly redrawn California's 30th congressional district, facing fellow Democrat Brad Sherman
Bradley James Sherman (born October 24, 1954) is an American accountant and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 30th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he first entered Congress in ...
. Sherman had the advantage because he previously represented over half of the district. About 60% of voters of the new 30th district resided in Sherman's former district, while just 20% of voters resided in Berman's.
The race, unprecedented in pitting two very similar candidates of the same party against each other in the general election, was called a "slugfest". Berman received the endorsements from about two-thirds of California's Democratic congressional delegation. Among Sherman's endorsements were then- Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California f ...
of California, then- State Controller John Chiang of California, former President Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
, and Congressman John Conyers of Michigan.
On June 5, 2012, Sherman ranked first in the seven-candidate open primary, with 42% of the vote. Berman ranked second, with 26% of the vote. The state's top-two primary system, implemented in 2010, allows for two candidates of the same party to face-off in the general election. Berman ran as the more conservative Democrat, hoping to divide the Democratic vote and dominate in the independent and conservative vote. However, in the November general election, Sherman defeated Berman, 60.3%–39.7%.
Political positions
Berman has been described as "one of the most creative members of the House, and one of the most clear-sighted operators in American politics". He has been an active legislator on several issues, but has also been described as "not one who gets much publicity".
Berman was the House sponsor of the 1986 False Claims Act
The False Claims Act (FCA), also called the "Lincoln Law", is an American federal law that imposes liability on persons and companies (typically federal contractors) who defraud governmental programs. It is the federal government's primary litigat ...
that authorized civil litigation
Civil law is a major branch of the law.Glanville Williams. '' Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1982. p. 2. In common law legal systems such as England and Wales and the United States, the term refers to non-criminal law. The law ...
by whistleblowers
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
. It led to recoveries for the United States Government exceeding $1 billion dollars.[
Berman has championed protecting American film industry jobs from outsourcing (" runaway production"). He has also voted against amending the ]constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
to require a balanced budget, against banning the desecration of the American flag,[ against the ]Defense of Marriage Act
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a United States federal law passed by the 104th United States Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. It banned federal recognition of same-sex marriage by limiting the definition of marr ...
, and against restrictions on abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
.[
However, Berman concurs with many on the ]right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical ...
on a number of issues, particularly foreign policy and trade
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market.
An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...
. Berman voted in support of the invasion of Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
in both 1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
and 2003, as well as for the FISA Amendments Act of 2008,[ positions that have hurt his standing among many liberals in his district. While he generally supports ]free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...
- for instance, voting in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)[ and various trade agreements with specific countries -, he voted against the more recent Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).][ He opposes withdrawing U.S. support for the ]World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation
in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...
. In that same year, he also voted to phase out many farm subsidy programs put into place by the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the " New Deal".
In Congress, Berman led the investigation into the conduct of House members in the Mark Foley page scandal.
In May 2012, Berman co-sponsored a bill with Republican Congressman David Dreier
David Timothy Dreier OAE (/ draɪər/; born July 5, 1952) is an American businessman, philanthropist, and politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California from 1981 to 2013. He was one ...
of California to reinstate tax credits given to films produced mainly in the United States. The credits were active from 2008 until 2011, and were aimed at keeping films in Hollywood. Berman stressed that we "must make every effort to keep American productions here in the United States".
Copyright law
Berman is known for his protection of copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
interests, and his alliances with the entertainment industry; he was sometimes referred to as the "representative from Hollywood". The major industry contributing to his election campaigns has been the entertainment industry. He proposed legislation under which copyright holders would be able to employ technological tools such as file blocking, redirection, spoofs, and decoys—among others—to curb piracy (Peer to Peer Piracy Prevention Act). He has been named as one of the primary politicians involved in the creation of the Stop Online Piracy Act
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a controversial proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on O ...
(SOPA) and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
es, Acuerdo Comercial Anti-Falsificación
, image = Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement map (English).svg
, image_width = 260
, caption =
, type = Plurilateral agreement
, date_drafted ...
(ACTA). In a September 2008 hearing of the House Intellectual Property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
Subcommittee, Berman criticized the National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
's policy requiring NIH-sponsored research to be submitted to a database open to the public by saying that "the N in NIH shouldn't stand for Napster."
Iraq
According to '' LA Weekly'', "Berman played a key and under-appreciated role in securing passage of a resolution that gave President George W. Bush broad authority to use force". The ''National Journal'' reports that Berman, "played a critical role in winning passage, by a wide margin, of the Iraq War resolution in October 2002. He strongly supported military action against Iraq, and in September, he organized a group of Democrats who shared his views. Berman's discussions led to House Democratic Leader
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets vi ...
Dick Gephardt's agreement with the administration on the terms of the resolution—talks that undercut the demands of other senior Democrats, including then House Democratic Whip Nancy Pelosi and Senate Foreign Relations Committee
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid p ...
Chairman Joe Biden. In June 2006, Berman voted for the Republican resolution to reject a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq."
Israel
Berman is also a supporter of Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, telling the Jewish newspaper, ''The Forward
''The Forward'' ( yi, פֿאָרווערטס, Forverts), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ...
'', after being appointed Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs
The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs ...
, "Even before I was a Democrat, I was a Zionist
Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
."[ He has sponsored the Anti-Boycott Act in the House, which prohibits American individuals and organizations from actively boycotting ]Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i goods.
Immigration
In 2003, Berman expressed his concerns over the Patriot Act with then-United States Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...
, specifically on the method to hold illegal immigrants until they prove they are not terrorists.
In 2000, Berman, along with then-Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon
Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
, proposed an amnesty, which would have granted legal status to hundreds of thousands of undocumented farm laborers. In exchange, requirements that growers provide housing to guest workers, and pay them a minimum wage adjusted annually for inflation, would have been relaxed. In 2005, Berman was part of the bi-partisan group in Congress that fought for immigration reform efforts. That path to citizenship was also supported by President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain.
Investments
OpenSecrets
OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...
named 151 members of Congress who had investments (as of year end 2006) in companies that do business with the United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
, suggesting that such holdings conflict with their responsibility for U.S. security policy. The most important such companies, ranked by estimated total value of members' holdings, were Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...
, General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
, Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
History
Pepsi wa ...
, ExxonMobil, Berkshire Hathaway
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiu ...
, IBM, Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
, Johnson & Johnson, H. J. Heinz Company
The H. J. Heinz Company is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. Heinz manufactures thousands of food products in plants on six contin ...
, and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. OpenSecrets
OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...
identified the top ten members of Congress, and the report named no other members among the 151, save committee chairmen Senator Joseph Lieberman and Representative Berman. None of the firms listed above ranked among the top ten DOD contractors in 2008, nor in the top twenty for 2009.
Ethics
Alan Mollohan
Alan Bowlby Mollohan (born May 14, 1943) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1983 to 2011. He was a member of the Democratic Party and the Blue Dog Coalition.
The district encompasses the northern part of ...
, ranking member
In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as '' ex officio'' member ...
of the House Ethics Committee
The Committee on Ethics, often known simply as the Ethics Committee, is one of the committees of the United States House of Representatives. Prior to the 112th Congress it was known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
The House Et ...
, resigned from the committee after he himself became the subject of an ethics complaint. Berman had been its senior Democrat 1997–2003, and on 2006-10-05, Minority leader Nancy Pelosi re-appointed him to replace Mollohan. Berman served on the subcommittee investigating the House's page program in the wake of the Mark Foley scandal.[ "This is an honor I could have done without."][
]Center for Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) is an American nonprofit investigative journalism organization whose stated mission is "to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to ...
reported in 2006 that members of the House Ethics Committee and their staffs had taken many privately sponsored trips, about 400 trips from 2000 to mid-2005, at a total expense nearly $1 million. Of these, Democrats took about 80% of the trips at about 70% of the cost. Berman and his staff were at the top of the chart, with trips costing more than $245,000. Berman himself had taken 14 trips at the Aspen Institute's expense, including two to China with Mrs. Berman. Aspen replied that its events for members were like graduate seminars, and did not push any policy agenda. "Gene Smith, Berman's chief of staff, said that the bulk of the congressman's foreign travel can be attributed to his being a senior member on the House Committee on International Relations." Five private groups (Campaign Legal Center
Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) government watchdog group in the United States. CLC supports strong enforcement of United States campaign finance laws. Trevor Potter, former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Comm ...
, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen
Public Citizen is a non-profit, Progressivism in the United States, progressive consumer rights advocacy group and think tank based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a branch in Austin, Texas, Austin, Texas.
Lobbying efforts
Public Citizen ...
and U.S. PIRG) jointly sent a letter to the ethics committee urging it to ban or restrict such travel.
Committee assignments
* Committee on Foreign Affairs (Ranking Member
In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as '' ex officio'' member ...
)
* Committee on the Judiciary Committee on the Judiciary may mean:
* United States House Committee on the Judiciary
* United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standi ...
** Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet
Caucus memberships
* Congressional Children's Working Group
* Congressional Diabetes Caucus
* International Conservation Caucus
*LGBT Equality Caucus
The Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus was formed by openly gay representatives Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank June 4, 2008, to advance LGBT+ rights. The caucus had 165 members (164 Democrats and one Republican, Jeff Van Drew) in the 1 ...
Career after Congress
Berman joined Washington, D.C. law firm Covington & Burling as a senior advisor in March 2013. Berman also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Democratic Institute. He serves on the board of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and is an advisory board member of the Counter Extremism Project.
Personal life
Berman married Janis Gail Schwarz in 1979; they have two daughters, Brinley and Lindsey.["Howard L Berman." ''Carroll's Federal Directory''. Carroll Publishing, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K2415002198. Fee.][ ]["Howard Lawrence Berman." ''Marquis Who's Who'', 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K2017593147. Fee.]
;Memberships and awards
* First Annual Farmworker Justice Award, 2000
* President, California Federation of Young Democrats, 1967–1969
* President's award, National Music Publishers Association
The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) is a trade association for the American music publishing industry. Founded in 1917, NMPA represents American music publishers and their songwriting partners. The NMPA’s mandate is to protect and ...
, 2007[
* ]NATO Parliamentary Assembly
Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Gerald E. Connolly from the United States, elected in 2019. Its curre ...
* Mexico Parliamentary Group[
]
See also
* List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
References
External links
Congressman Howard Berman
official U.S. House website (archived)
Howard Berman for Congress
official campaign website (archived)
*
Join California Howard L. Berman
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Howard
1941 births
Living people
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American Zionists
California lawyers
Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives
Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
Politicians from Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
UCLA School of Law alumni
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy
The Asia Foundation
People associated with Covington & Burling
21st-century American Jews