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About Traditions & Symbols | Seniority


The practice of ranking senators based on length of service, known as seniority, developed during the institution's first half-century. In its earliest decades, the Senate struggled to find an equitable means for distributing special status among members. Who would serve as president pro tempore in the absence of the vice president? Who would chair the major committees?

In the early 1800s, the Senate conducted numerous and time-consuming roll-call votes to determine committee assignments. Senators also gave this authority to the presiding officer (either the vice president or the president pro tempore) for a brief period. By the 1840s, a time of rapid membership turnover and short tenures in office, each party conference began recognizing seniority of Senate service to arrange committee rosters and determine chairmanships.

In today’s Senate, seniority remains an important factor in determining many committee assignments, and committee chairs are typically the most senior member. Both party conferences continue to adhere to the seniority system, but recent changes in conference rules have lessened the power of seniority. Most notably, the Senate Republican Conference placed six-year term limits on its party's committee chairmen and ranking members in 1997.

In addition to determining committee assignments and chairmanships, seniority has played a role in the selection of the Senate’s president pro tempore. Since the mid-20th century, this position has been held by the majority party’s longest-serving member. Beyond the seniority structure managed by the party conferences, the full Senate also recognizes seniority for the purpose of assigning office space, which is governed by the Committee on Rules and Administration.

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