According to the US Congressional Research Services Agency, a profile of the membership of the 118th Congress (2023-2024) as of July 8, 2024, or at the beginning of the 118th Congress (January 3, 2023), where noted, has been compiled regarding statistical information on selected characteristics of members in the House and Senate, including data on party affiliation, average age, occupation, education, length of congressional service, religious affiliation, gender, ethnicity, foreign birth, and military service.

Within this Congress, forty percent of the current members have attended law school. It means—54 percent of the senators and 37 percent of the House members have a law degree. The results are most fascinating when broken down along party lines. Whether in the House or the Senate, a higher proportion of Democrats had attended law school over their Republican counterparts.

The actual party comparison of lawmakers with a law school education includes, by percentage: Senate Republicans 43% and Senate Democrats 64%. In the House, it is Republicans 30% and Democrats 42%. The qualifications of politicians are a perennial point of contention. Some people idolize real-world experience and realism, others would rather their leaders were educated to the hilt and idealistic—there will ever be agreement on this issue. What can be said is that the findings display an encouraging loyalty to the study of law as a means of public officials governing effectively.

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