Mike Lee

Michael Lee
Michael Lee
United States Senator-elect; from Utah
	Assuming office;
Succeeding	Bob Bennett
Personal details
Born	June 4, 1971 (age 53)
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Sharon
Residence	Utah
Alma mater	Brigham Young University
Occupation	Lawyer
Website	www.mikelee2010.com

Michael Shumway Lee (born June 4, 1971) is a constitutional lawyer and the Republican United States Senator-elect from Utah, having won Utah's 2010 Senate election. Lee defeated Tim Bridgewater in the June 22, 2010, Republican primary election by a 51% to 49% margin.^[1]

Early life and education

Lee was born in Mesa, Arizona on June 4, 1971. His family moved to Provo, Utah one year later when his father, Rex E. Lee, became the founding dean of Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School. While Lee spent about half of his childhood years in Utah, he spent the other half in McLean, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.. His father was serving first as an Assistant U.S. Attorney General (overseeing the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice during the Ford Administration) from 1975 until 1976, and then as the U.S. Solicitor General (charged with representing the United States government before the Supreme Court during the first term of the Reagan Administration) from 1981 until 1985.

After graduating from Timpview High School (Provo, Utah) in 1989, Mike attended Brigham Young University as an undergraduate student, receiving a B.S. in Political Science in 1994. He served as BYU's Student Body President during the 1993–1994 school year.

Legal career

After graduating from BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1997, Lee served as a law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. The following year, he clerked for then-Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., who was serving at that time on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Court in Newark, New Jersey. After finishing his clerkships, Lee joined the Washington, D.C. office of Sidley Austin, where he specialized in appellate and Supreme Court litigation. Several years later, Lee returned to Utah to serve as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City, preparing briefs and arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. He served as general counsel to Utah Governor Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. from January 2005 until June 2006, when he returned to Washington to serve a one-year clerkship at the U.S. Supreme Court with Justice Alito.

Lee returned to Utah (and to private practice) in the summer of 2007, joining the Salt Lake office of the Washington, D.C.-based law firm of Howrey LLP. Lee focused on courtroom advocacy and constitutional law.

As an attorney, Lee also represents toxic waste facility provider EnergySolutions Inc.

Political positions

Lee is generally known as a fiscal conservative, and has garnered the support of the Tea Party.

He is opposed to the 17th Amendment to the Constitution.

Personal life

Lee has served on the BYU alumni board, the BYU Law School alumni board, and as a long-time member of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society and the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies. He is also an member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served a two-year mission for the Church in the Texas Rio Grande Valley from 1990 to 1992.

Lee married the former Sharon Burr in 1993. They live in Alpine, Utah and have three children.

Lee is a second cousin to current U.S. Senators Mark Udall of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico, as well as former Senator Gordon H. Smith of Oregon.

References

^ Weigel, David (June 23, 2010). "Mike Lee wins in Utah, and so does the tea party". Washington Post.

External links

Mike Lee for Senate official campaign site
Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
Profile at Vote Smart
Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org

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[1] Weigel, David (June 23, 2010). "Mike Lee wins in Utah, and so does the tea party". Washington Post.

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