Elected in 2010 as Utah's 16th Senator, Mike Lee has spent his career defending the fundamental liberties of all Americans and advocating for America's founding constitutional principles.
Senator Lee acquired a deep respect for the Constitution early in life while watching his father, Rex E. Lee, serve as the Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan. He attended most of his father's arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court, giving him a unique and up-close understanding of government.
Lee graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Political Science, and served as BYU's Student Body President in his senior year. He graduated from BYU's Law School in 1997 and went on to serve as law clerk to Judge Dee Benson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah, and then with future Supreme Court Justice Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
The family is the most basic and essential building block of American society, and strong families are the best predictor of financial, educational, and emotional success in life. Accordingly, Senator Lee consistently pursues policies that strengthen family ties and works to undo government interventions that penalize or weaken the family.
Since every human life holds innate and profound dignity and worth from conception, it is essential that the federal government respect each human life. Every individual deserves respect and protection to freely exercise and live out their religious and moral beliefs without fear of oppression or persecution as guaranteed by the First Amendment to our Constitution.
The importance of the family and the social capital that comes from active, local communities motivates much of Senator Lee’s work – everything from tax policy to welfare policy to criminal justice reform. He believes America must renew civil society and the federal government should not crowd-out civil society’s role or Americans' participation in associational life and the institutions that secure it.
For instance, Senator Lee believes the tax code should not penalize marriage, our entitlement system should not penalize parents, and our criminal code should provide flexibility to judges in sentencing non-violent offenders. Ensuring that the federal government places married couples and parents on a level-playing field as other Americans and provides those that have been convicted of non-violent crimes the opportunity to rehabilitate themselves and return to their families and communities are important reforms that Senator Lee has made a focus of his work.