Seniority System

The seniority system still exists in Congress today but in a more informal and less ironclad way than prevailed earlier. Leadership positions, elected by each party's members, often go to the more senior members. Chairs of House committees—although largely under the control of party leaders—usually follow seniority, but not always. In 2007, for example, the new Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., bypassed Jane Harman, a fellow Californian, and Alcee L. Hastings of Florida for the chair of the Select Intelligence Committee; by seniority both were next in line. Pelosi and Harman did not get along personally and Hastings was still plagued by his impeachment and removal as a federal judge in 1989. In the Senate, the leadership asserted some influence on chairmanship but mostly at the margins; seniority still determined nearly all moves up the committee ladder.

The seniority system has been a unique aspect of Congress's internal organization. In no other major legislative body in the world has sheer length of service determined which members will have power and influence. Even when it was followed most closely in Congress, the seniority system was not a formal law or rule of the House of Representatives or Senate.

There are three types of seniority. The first is seniority within the House or Senate as a whole. This type of seniority has limited significance, but it helps determine who has access to the most desirable office space and a few other privileges. The other types are seniority within a political party in the chamber and seniority on a committee. These last two are linked because members are chosen for service on committees by the political parties and are listed in order of seniority only with others from the same party. Members elected to a committee at the same time are then ranked in order of their full chamber seniority.

[Page 521]Seniority has little effect on the top leadership of Congress. The most senior member of the majority party in the Senate does hold the post of president pro tempore, but it is a virtually powerless position. The most important positions—Speaker of the House and majority and minority leaders in each chamber—have never been filled on the basis of seniority.

...