DURBIN, Richard Joseph (Dick), a Senator and a Representative from Illinois; born in East St. Louis, St. Clair County, Ill., November 21, 1944; graduated from Assumption High School, East St. Louis 1962; B.S., Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Washington, DC 1966; intern in the office of Illinois Senator Paul Douglas during his senior year in college; J.D., Georgetown University Law Center 1969; admitted to the Illinois bar 1969, and commenced practice in Springfield; legal counsel to Illinois Lieutenant Governor Paul Simon 1969-1972; legal counsel, Illinois State senate judiciary committee 1972-1982; Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor of Illinois 1978; associate professor, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield 1978-1983; delegate, Democratic National Conventions 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996; chairman of Illinois state delegation in 1996; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1983-January 2, 1997); elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1996; reelected in 2002, 2008, 2014, and again in 2020 for the term ending January 3, 2027; Democratic party whip (2005-); chair, Committee on the Judiciary (One Hundred Seventeenth and One Hundred Eighteenth Congresses).
