Taxonomy of Congress Critters

September 8, 2007 6:09 PM

How many of the current crop of 535 US congress people have law degrees?
posted by iconjack to law & government (9 comments total)

According to CSPAN, the 109th had 228 but they don't have the same stats for the 110th yet.
posted by jessamyn at 6:19 PM on September 8, 2007

Wikipedia says 56, but given jessamyn's information from CSPAN, that's almost certainly incorrect. It's unsourced, too.
posted by dilettante at 6:27 PM on September 8, 2007

232 for the 108th. 215 for the 107th. This blog cites the ABA as saying that 59 senators (59%) and 174 representatives (40%) have law degrees for 233 total but I haven't been able to independently confirm that.
posted by jessamyn at 6:31 PM on September 8, 2007 [4 favorites]

Aren't librarians cool?
Ten minutes, done.
posted by caddis at 6:33 PM on September 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

(and yes Jess just pulls this stuff off all the time. I am impressed)
posted by caddis at 6:35 PM on September 8, 2007

Can I flag my answer as illiterate? Just looked back at that article...I'll get some sleep real soon now.
posted by dilettante at 6:46 PM on September 8, 2007

This PDF and this PDF confirm the numbers Jessamyn cited.
posted by cerebus19 at 7:08 PM on September 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

You can get a precise answer for previous Congresses if you go to the book Vital Statistics on Congress (ed. Malbin?).
posted by Mr. Justice at 8:13 PM on September 8, 2007

good magazine had a pretty impressive collection of statistics on our collective congresscritters a few issues back, it must have been in their first or second issue.
posted by krautland at 8:30 PM on September 8, 2007