Justin Amash facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Justin Amash
Official portrait, 2015
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 3rd district
In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2021
Preceded by	Vern Ehlers
Succeeded by	Peter Meijer
Member of the Michigan House of Representatives from the 72nd district
In office January 14, 2009 – January 1, 2011
Preceded by	Glenn Steil
Succeeded by	Ken Yonker
Personal details
Born	(1980-04-18) April 18, 1980 (age 44) Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.
Political party	Libertarian (after 2020)
Other political affiliations	Republican (until 2019) Independent (2019–2020)
Spouse	Kara Day
Children	3
Education	University of Michigan (BA, JD)

Justin A. Amash (/əˈmɑːʃ/ Ə-mahsh; born April 18, 1980) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for MI's 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2021. He was the second Palestinian-American member of Congress. Originally a Republican, Amash left the GOP and became an independent on the 4th of July in 2019. In April 2020 he joined the Libertarian Party, leaving Congress in January 2021 as the only Libertarian to serve in Congress.

A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Amash was born to Palestinian and Syrian Christian parents who had immigrated to the United States. After high school, he studied economics at the University of Michigan, graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, and briefly worked as a corporate lawyer and consultant before entering politics.

Amash represented the 72nd district in the Michigan House of Representatives for one term before being elected to Congress in 2010. He was the founder and chairperson of the Liberty Caucus and was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, which he left in June 2019. Amash received national attention when he became the first Republican congressman to call for the impeachment of Donald Trump, a position he maintained after leaving the party.

Amash formed an exploratory committee to seek the Libertarian Party presidential nomination in the 2020 election, before announcing in May of that year that he would not run for president. Amash did not seek reelection to Congress in 2020.

Early life and education

Justin Amash was born on April 18, 1980, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is the second of three sons born to Arab Christian parents who had immigrated to the United States. His father, Attallah Amash, is a Palestinian Christian whose family lived in Ramla until they were forcibly expelled by Israeli soldiers during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Attallah and his family immigrated to the United States in 1956 when he was 16 through the sponsorship of an American pastor in Muskegon, Michigan. Amash's mother, Mimi, is a Syrian Christian who met his father through family friends in Damascus, Syria, and the two married in 1974.

Amash grew up in Kentwood, Michigan. He first attended Kelloggsville Christian School in Kentwood, then Grand Rapids Christian High School, from which he graduated in 1998 as class valedictorian. He then attended the University of Michigan, graduating in 2002 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with high honors. Amash then attended the University of Michigan Law School, graduating with a Juris Doctor in 2005.

After graduating from law school, Amash spent less than a year as a lawyer at the Grand Rapids law firm Varnum LLP. He then became a consultant to Michigan Industrial Tools Inc. (also known as Tekton Inc.), a company his father founded and owns. He worked for his family's business for a year before being elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 2008. Amash's two brothers also have positions at Michigan Industrial Tools.

Amash and his wife Kara Day attended high school together and married after graduating from college. They have a son and two daughters.

Political career

Michigan House of Representatives

Glenn Steil Sr., the incumbent state representative for Michigan's 72nd House District, was unable to run for reelection in the 2008 election due to term limits. Amash ran in the Republican primary and defeated four other candidates before defeating Democratic nominee Albert Abbasse in the general election.

During his initial tenure in the State House, Amash sponsored five resolutions and twelve bills, none of which were passed. While in the State House, he began using his Twitter and Facebook pages to report his floor votes and explain his reasoning and had a government transparency page on his website that would allow people to view the members and salaries of his staff.

U.S. House of Representatives

Republican (2011–2019)

On February 9, 2010, Amash announced that he would run for the Republican nomination for Michigan's third congressional district and the next day incumbent Representative Vern Ehlers announced that he would not seek reelection. During the primary campaign he was endorsed by Betsy and Dick DeVos, the Club for Growth, Representative Ron Paul, and FreedomWorks PAC. In the Republican primary he defeated four other candidates and shortly before the general election he was named as one of Time magazine's "40 under 40 – Rising Stars of U.S. Politics". During the campaign he advocated politics supported by the Tea Party movement and defeated Democratic nominee Patrick Miles Jr. in the general election.

The House Republican Steering Committee removed Amash from the House Budget Committee on December 3, 2012, as part of a larger party leadership-caucus shift. He joined Representatives Tim Huelskamp and David Schweikert in a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner, demanding to know why they had lost their committee positions. A spokesperson for Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia said that Amash, Huelskamp, and Schweikert had been removed for "their inability to work with other members." Politico said that the three were "the first members pulled off committees as punishment for political or personality reasons in nearly two decades".

Following the retirement of Senator Carl Levin it was speculated that Amash would run in the 2014 Senate election and Senator Mike Lee encouraged him to run, but Amash chose to run for reelection to the House.

Amash was endorsed by the fiscally conservative Club for Growth PAC, which spent over $500,000 supporting Amash in his Republican primary against former East Grand Rapids School Trustee Brian Ellis, who was endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and spent more than $1 million of his own money on the race.

After Amash defeated Ellis in the August primary, with 57% of the vote to Ellis's 43%, Amash was highly critical of Ellis and former Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who had backed Ellis. Of Hoekstra, Amash said, "You are a disgrace. And I'm glad we could hand you one more loss before you fade into total obscurity and irrelevance." Amash took exception to one of Ellis's television ads that quoted California Republican Congressman Devin Nunes calling Amash "Al Qaeda's best friend in Congress"; he demanded an apology from Ellis for running what he called a "disgusting, despicable smear campaign." As Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic notes, "Amash voted against the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, favored a measure to repeal indefinite detention, and opposed reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act." In the general election, Amash won reelection against Democratic nominee Bob Goodrich.

Amash at the 2019 Young Americans for Liberty Convention

In 2011, Amash endorsed Representative Ron Paul's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. In 2015, he endorsed Senator Rand Paul's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and later endorsed Senator Ted Cruz after Paul dropped out.

From 2011 to 2019, Amash missed only one of 5,374 roll call votes.

Independent (2019–2020)

In a July 4, 2019 op-ed, Amash announced that he was leaving the Republican Party and becoming an independent. In his op-ed, he said:

We are fast approaching the point where Congress exists as little more than a formality to legitimize outcomes dictated by the president, the speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader...

Most Americans are not rigidly partisan and do not feel well represented by either of the two major parties. In fact, the parties have become more partisan in part because they are catering to fewer people, as Americans are rejecting party affiliation in record numbers.

No matter your circumstance, I’m asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it.

On July 8, 2019, Amash formally submitted his resignation from the Party to Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Republican Conference Leader Liz Cheney. In the process, he resigned his seat on the Committee on Oversight and Reform. Amash thus became the only independent in the House of Representatives, and the first independent in the House since Bernie Sanders of Vermont (who left the House in 2007 after being elected to the Senate); and one of three independents in the United States Congress, along with Sanders and Senator Angus King of Maine.

Libertarian (2020–2021)

In April 2020, Amash joined the Libertarian Party. In doing so, Amash became the first Libertarian member to serve in either house of Congress.

In July 2020, Amash announced that he would not seek re-election to the House, saying that he would "miss" representing his constituency in Congress.

Post U.S. House

In May 2022, Amash spoke at the Libertarian Party National Convention.

In November 2022, Amash tweeted that he would be willing to serve as a "nonpartisan" Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, receiving support from Colorado Governor Jared Polis. During the voting for the Speaker on January 4, 2023, Amash arrived at the U.S. Capitol in order to offer himself as a candidate, but did not receive any votes. In an interview with Reason, he said he would "Open up the process" for creating and passing legislation and criticized Speaker candidate Kevin McCarthy as someone who "cares only about power" rather than policy.

Political positions

Amash at the 2012 Liberty Political Action Conference

Amash has described himself as a libertarian, dissenting from both Republican and Democratic leadership more frequently than the vast majority of Republican members of Congress. Amash was regarded as one of the most libertarian members of Congress, receiving high scores from right-leaning interest groups such as the Club for Growth, Heritage Action for America, and Americans for Prosperity, and praise from limited-government think tanks and nonprofit organizations. He was a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative Republicans in the House. In June 2019, Amash left the caucus. On July 4, 2019, he announced that he was leaving the Republican Party to become an independent. He officially announced his membership in the Libertarian Party in late April 2020.

Before leaving the GOP, Amash gained a reputation as a gadfly within the Republican Party; his staunchly libertarian and sometimes contrarian views resulted at times in disagreements with party leadership and other members of the Michigan congressional delegation. Amash has been outspoken about the American two-party system. In a 2020 interview, he argued that national politicians now focused on media perception of their party, whereas "the actual process of legislating is all but forgotten."

Amash has called economists F. A. Hayek and Frédéric Bastiat his "biggest heroes" and political inspirations and has described himself as "Hayekian libertarian." When The New York Times asked him to explain his approach to voting on legislation, he replied, "I follow a set of principles. I follow the Constitution. And that's what I base my votes on. Limited government, economic freedom, and individual liberty."

Domestic

D.C. statehood

Amash at Revolution 2022 hosted by Young Americans for Liberty

On June 26, 2020, Amash voted against H.R. 51, a D.C. Statehood bill.

Death penalty

In July 2019, Amash cosponsored Representative Ayanna Pressley's bill that would abolish the death penalty at the federal level.

On February 26, 2020, he was one of four representatives who voted against the Justice for Victims of Lynching Act, which recognized lynching as a federal hate crime, stating that it would expand the use of the death penalty and that the acts criminalized by the bill are already illegal under federal law.

Police reform

In June 2020, Amash and Pressley introduced the Ending Qualified Immunity Act which would remove from law enforcement officers, and other officials, the protection of qualified immunity that routinely protects them from civil lawsuits.

Economic

Amash opposes government bailouts and tax increases.

In 2011, Amash introduced H.J. Res. 81, a Constitutional amendment proposal that would require a balanced budget over the business cycle with a ten-year transition to balance. That same year, he was one of four House Republicans who joined 161 Democrats to oppose an alternative balanced budget resolution without a federal spending cap.

Energy and environment

Amash has criticized the Environmental Protection Agency, arguing that many environmental regulations are too strict. He voted for the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, which would have amended the Clean Air Act of 1963 to prohibit the EPA from regulating specified greenhouse gases as air pollutants. In a 2017 debate, Amash "exaggerated uncertainty around the basics of climate science"—specifically, the scientific consensus that carbon emissions cause climate change. But in a 2020 interview, Amash said that climate change is a real and "very important" issue, that he believes climate change is being driven at least in part by human activity and that "action with respect to climate change" should be taken. Amash opposes regulations to combat climate change, arguing that we should instead "use clean technologies and to invent new technologies that will keep our environment clean." He opposed Obama's decision to sign the Paris Agreement to combat climate change, voted against legislation to block Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement, and voted for legislation "expressing the sense of Congress that a carbon tax would be detrimental to the United States economy." He opposes government subsidies for nuclear energy or any other form of energy production.

Amash was the only representative from Michigan to oppose federal aid in response to the Flint water crisis, arguing that "the U.S. Constitution does not authorize the federal government to intervene in an intrastate matter like this one." He contended that "the State of Michigan should provide comprehensive assistance to the people of Flint" instead.

Gerrymandering

Amash opposes political gerrymandering, saying in 2018 that he strongly supported adopting "an independent process for drawing districts" based on geographic considerations, so that districts would be "as compact and contiguous as possible." Amash was the only Republican member of Michigan's congressional delegation who did not join a federal lawsuit challenging the state's political boundaries.

Health care

On May 4, 2017, Amash voted in favor of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and to pass a revised version of the American Health Care Act. Amash initially opposed the American Health Care Act, describing it as "Swampcare", tweeting that "It didn't take long for the swamp to drain @realDonaldTrump" and criticizing House leadership for attempting to "ram it through." Nevertheless, Amash voted for the updated AHCA plan before the Congressional Budget Office could determine its impact or cost.

Political reform

Amash has pointed to structural problems in how Congress operates. He believes that many members have put "party above principles," in both the Democratic and Republican parties. He notes that many in Congress lack an understanding of parliamentary procedure, allowing leadership to dictate what legislation is passed. Amash notes that campaign finance poses significant challenges, but states, "I don’t know how to resolve it because I’m a big believer in free speech."

Religion

In November 2011, he was one of nine representatives who voted against a House resolution that affirmed In God We Trust as the official motto of the United States and was the only Republican to do so. On February 13, 2013, he voted against the Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act of 2013, which would make all places of religious worship eligible for FEMA grants, stating that bill "skews the law away from fairness by making religious buildings automatically eligible for reconstruction aid when other entities aren’t."

Same-sex marriage

While running for the House of Representatives in 2010, Amash supported the Defense of Marriage Act, but in 2013 he advocated repealing it, saying that the "real threat to traditional marriage & religious liberty is government, not gay couples who love each other & want to spend lives together". He supported the result of Obergefell v. Hodges (in which the Supreme Court held that same-sex couples cannot be deprived of the fundamental right to marry) on the grounds that government-issued marriage licenses should not be "necessary to validate the intimate relationships of consenting adults."

Security and surveillance

Amash has been a frequent critic of the National Security Agency's surveillance programs.

He voted against the 2011 reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act, the 2012 reauthorization of the FISA Amendments Act, and the USA Freedom Act.

In 2013, Amash and 15 other members of Congress filed an amicus brief in Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court supporting the release of the Court's unpublished opinions regarding the "meaning, scope, and constitutionality" of Section 215 of the Patriot Act. On June 12, 2013, he called for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to resign for stating at a Senate committee hearing in March that the NSA did not collect data.

In 2013, Amash was one of two Republicans to vote in favor of closing Guantanamo Bay and transferring its detainees. The amendment by Adam Smith would have eliminated all funding for the detention facility by December 31, 2014, removed all limitations on the transfer of detainees, removed a ban on the transfer of detainees to the United States and removed statutes that had banned the use of taxpayer funds for the construction of facilities in the United States for those detainees. It failed on a 174–249 vote.

In 2016, Amash was one of three Republicans to vote in favor of an amendment to close Guantánamo Bay and potentially allow federal officials to transfer detainees to facilities in the United States. It failed on a 163–259 vote.

Amash opposed President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to ban citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States. Amash said: "Like President Obama's executive actions on immigration, President Trump's executive order overreaches and undermines our constitutional system."

Amash proposed an amendment to the reauthorization bill of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Amash amendment would have required the government in criminal cases to seek a warrant based on probable cause before searching surveillance data for information about Americans. While the Amash amendment received bipartisan support as well as support from civil liberties groups including the American Civil Liberties Union, the amendment ultimately failed by a vote of 183 to 233.

LGBT rights

In 2015, Amash was among 60 Republicans voting to uphold President Barack Obama's 2014 executive order banning federal contractors from making hiring decisions that discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

In 2016, Amash was among 43 Republicans to vote for the Maloney Amendment to H.R. 5055 which would prohibit the use of funds for government contractors who discriminate against LGBT employees.

In 2017, Amash was one of two dozen Republicans to vote against an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have prohibited taxpayer funds from being used by the Department of Defense to provide gender transition support to military members. He said, “Those who serve in our Armed Forces deserve the best medical care...With respect to transgender persons, we should focus on the best science, not the political or philosophical opinions of partisans”.

In 2019, Amash voted "present" on a resolution objecting to Trump's restrictions on transgender individuals in the military.

In May 2020, Amash stated that if elected president, he would support and protect transgender Americans.

Foreign

Diplomacy

In May 2020, Amash expressed support for U.S. membership in the United Nations as a "positive venue" for diplomatic engagement.

Immigration

At a January 2013 town hall event, Amash responded to a question about immigration reform, "I don't think you can just grab people and deport them...I think we need to have a system that is sympathetic to people, looks at their situations and allows as many people to stay here as possible." On March 21, 2013, he and five other representatives signed a letter to U.S. Senator Rand Paul supporting immigration reform in the form of a "three-pronged stool" of border security, expanding legal immigration and "addressing" immigrants who came here "knowingly and illegally". In August he explained his support for immigration reform, saying improving the legal immigration system to make it more accessible would lead to fewer illegal border crossings. He announced his support for a path to legal status for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. He also supported an eventual path to citizenship once the undocumented obtained legal status.

In July 2017, Amash was the only Republican to vote against Kate's law, a bill that increased maximum penalties for criminals who entered the U.S. illegally more than once. He later said he was concerned the bill did not have adequate 5th amendment due process protections for undocumented immigrants to challenge their removal orders.

In July 2018, House Republicans introduced a resolution supporting the officers and personnel of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Amash was the only Republican in the chamber to vote against the resolution. He tweeted, "The House voted today on an inane resolution regarding ICE. The resolution makes several dubious claims and denounces calls to abolish ICE. I wouldn't abolish ICE without an alternative, but there's no reason to treat a federal agency as though it's beyond reproach and reform."

In December 2018, Amash was one of eight House Republicans to vote against a stopgap government funding bill that included $5.7 billion in border wall funding. He tweeted, "This massive, wasteful spending bill—stuffed with unrelated items—passed 217–185. It's amazing how some wall funding causes my fellow Republicans to embrace big government."

In February 2019, Amash was the only House Republican to co-sponsor a resolution to block Trump's declaration of a national emergency to redirect funds to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border without a congressional appropriation for such a project. He wrote, "A national emergency declaration for a non-emergency is void", and "[Trump] is attempting to circumvent our constitutional system." On February 25, Amash was one of 13 House Republicans to vote to block Trump's declaration.

Military

Amash speaking at the 2016 Young Americans for Liberty National Convention in Washington, DC

Amash supports decreasing U.S. military spending and believes there is significant waste in the U.S. Department of Defense.

He believes only Congress has the power to declare war, and has criticized multiple military actions taken by Presidents Obama and Trump. In July 2011, he sponsored an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act that would have prevented funding for operations against Gaddafi's government and Amash later stated that President Obama's actions during the Libyan Civil War were unconstitutional without authorization from Congress. He criticized President Obama's intervention in Syria against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant for proceeding without a Congressional declaration of war.

In 2011, Amash was one of six members of Congress who voted against House Resolution 268 reaffirming U.S. commitment to a negotiated settlement of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict through direct Israeli–Palestinian negotiation, which passed with 407 members in support. In 2014 he was one of eight members of Congress who voted against a $225 million package to restock Israel's Iron Dome missile defenses, which passed with 398 members in support. He supports a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Amash joined 104 Democrats and 16 Republicans in voting against the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which specified the budget and expenditures of the Department of Defense, calling it "one of the most anti-liberty pieces of legislation of our lifetime". Amash co-sponsored an amendment to the NDAA that would ban indefinite military detention and military trials so that all terror suspects arrested in the United States would be tried in civilian courts. He expressed concern that individuals charged with terrorism could be jailed for prolonged periods of time without ever being formally charged or brought to trial.

On March 14, 2016, Amash joined the unanimous vote in the House to approve a resolution declaring the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to be committing genocide against religious minorities in the Middle East (it passed 383–0), but joined Representatives Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) in voting against a separate measure creating an international tribunal to try those accused of participating in the alleged atrocities (it passed 392–3).

In 2017, Amash criticized U.S. involvement in Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, arguing that "Al Qaeda in Yemen has emerged as a de facto ally of the Saudi-led militaries with whom [Trump] administration aims to partner more closely."

In July 2017, Amash was one of only three House members to vote against the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, a bill that imposed new economic sanctions against Russia, Iran, and North Korea. The bill passed the House on a 419–3 vote, with Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and John Duncan Jr. (R-TN) also voting no. Trump initially opposed the bill, saying that relations with Russia were already "at an all-time and dangerous low", but ultimately signed it.

In January 2019, Amash voted against legislation that would prevent the President from unilaterally withdrawing from or altering NATO, although he subsequently said that he supports U.S. NATO membership, pointing to his 2017 vote to affirm NATO's Article 5.

In 2019, Amash signed a letter led by Representative Ro Khanna and Senator Rand Paul to Trump arguing that it is "long past time to rein in the use of force that goes beyond congressional authorization" and that they hoped this would "serve as a model for ending hostilities in the future – in particular, as you and your administration seek a political solution to our involvement in Afghanistan."

In October 2019, Amash criticized Trump's proposed withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria for having "green-lighted" the 2019 Turkish offensive into northeastern Syria against Kurdish forces.

In January 2020, Amash voted in favor of the "No War Against Iran Act", which sought to block funding for the use of US military force in or against Iran unless Congress preemptively signed off. This proposed act is more restrictive than the 1973 War Powers Act, which requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action and forbids armed forces from remaining for more than 60 days without congressional authorization. It passed the U.S. House of Representatives on a 228–175 vote. Amash also voted to repeal the 2002 authorization for use of military force (AUMF), which passed the U.S. House on a 236–166 vote.

2020 presidential exploratory committee

On April 28, 2020, after months of speculation that he would enter the presidential race, Amash announced the formation of an exploratory committee to seek the Libertarian presidential nomination. On May 16, he withdrew his name from consideration for the Libertarian nomination, citing increased political polarization and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that would make campaigning difficult.

Personal life

Amash and his wife Kara (née Day) married after graduating from college, having previously met at the high school they attended together. They have a son and two daughters. Several of his relatives were killed by an Israeli airstrike while sheltering in a church on October 19, 2023, during the 2023 Israel-Hamas War.

Electoral history

Committee assignments

• None (July 8, 2019–January 3, 2021) (116th)
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (January 3, 2019–July 8, 2019) (116th)
• Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (116th)
• Subcommittee on National Security (116th)
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (115th)
  • Subcommittee on Information Technology (115th)
  • Subcommittee on National Security (115th)
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (114th)
  • Subcommittee on National Security (114th)
• Joint Economic Committee (114th)
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (113th)
  • Subcommittee on Government Operations (113th)
  • Subcommittee on National Security (113th)
• Joint Economic Committee (113th)
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (112th)
  • Subcommittee on Government Organization, Efficiency and Financial Management (112th)
  • Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs (112th)
• Joint Economic Committee (112th)
• Committee on the Budget (112th)

Caucus memberships

• Freedom Caucus (Founding member); resigned from the caucus June 10, 2019.
• Liberty Caucus (Founder and chairman)
• Second Amendment Caucus (Founding member)

See also

In Spanish: Justin Amash para niños

• List of Arab and Middle-Eastern Americans in the United States Congress
• List of American politicians who switched parties in office
• List of United States representatives who switched parties