Dean of the United States House of Representatives

Seal of the United States House of Representatives

**Incumbent
Hal Rogers**
since March 18, 2022

The **Dean of the United States House of Representatives**, very rarely called the **Father of the United States House of Representatives**, is the most senior member of the House. This is typically the member with the longest continuous service in the House. The Dean is a symbolic post whose only customary duty is to swear in the Speaker of the House after they are elected. This responsibility was first recorded in 1819 but has not been observed continuously; at times, the Speaker-elect was the current Dean or the Speaker-elect preferred to be sworn in by a member of their own party when the Dean belonged to another party. The Dean comes forward on the House floor to administer the oath to the Speaker-elect, before the new Speaker administers the oath to the other members-elect. While the Dean does swear in newly elected Speakers, they do not preside over the election of a Speaker.

Because of other privileges associated with seniority, the Dean is usually allotted some of the most desirable office space, and is generally either chair or ranking minority member of an influential committee. It is unclear when the position first achieved concrete recognition, though the seniority system and increasing lengths of service emerged in the early 20th century. As late as 1924, Frederick H. Gillett was Dean, and also Speaker, before becoming a Senator. Modern deans move into their positions so late in their careers that a move to the Senate is highly unlikely. When Ed Markey broke Gillett's record for time in the House before moving to the Senate in 2013 he was still decades junior to the sitting Dean. Because of the nature of the office, the Deanship can change hands unexpectedly.

The current Dean is Republican Hal Rogers of Kentucky, who became Dean upon the death of Don Young on March 18, 2022.

## Seniority in the United States House of Representatives

The origins of the modern seniority system in the United States House of Representatives date back to 1911, when Congressman George W. Norris of Nebraska introduced a resolution to remove the House Speaker as a member of the Rules Committee, allowing House members to choose their own committee assignments, even if the leadership of their party opposed them. Since then, various formal and informal rules and traditions have been adopted to determine congressional seniority. Members of the House are arranged by the number of terms they have served, before being arranged by the beginning date of their most recent continuous service. Where members have served the same number of terms and have the same date of service, they are arranged alphabetically by last name. This is why there has not been a dual deanship since that of Henry Allen Cooper and Frederick H. Gillett in 1918. The first Speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenberg, is generally considered the first Dean by convention of him being the first congressman to be sworn in on March 4, 1789, since all members of the 1st Congress held equal seniority.

Representatives who return to the House after having previously served in the House may be credited with service equal to one less than the number of terms they served. For example, Representative Steve Chabot had previously served seven terms, from 1995 to 2009, when he was once again elected in 2010. Instead of holding seniority with others whose terms began January 3, 2011, he was credited with six terms, and held seniority above all representatives whose terms began on or after January 3, 1999. When a representative has served a prior tenure of fewer than two terms (i.e., appointed to fill a vacancy, so their prior tenure length measured in terms, minus one, equals less than one), they are ranked above all others whose service begins on the same day.

## References

1. ↑ https://history.house.gov/Institution/Seniority/Deans-of-the-House/
2. ↑ https://history.house.gov/Institution/Seniority/Deans-Fathers-list/
3. ↑ https://history.house.gov/Institution/Origins-Development/Oath-of-Office/
4. ↑ https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-the-seniority-system-3368073
5. ↑ https://history.house.gov/Institution/Seniority/Terms-of-Service/