Orrin Hatch, the towering Utah lawmaker who was the longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history, died on Saturday evening at 88.
First elected in 1977 when Jimmy Carter was president, he spent 42 years in the upper chamber, holding several influential committee chairmanships — including atop the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Finance Committee. He also served as the Senate's president pro tempore, the chamber's highest ceremonial role, and briefly sought his party’s presidential nomination in 2000.
Hatch's death was announced by the Hatch Foundation, an organization he founded.
"Senator Orrin G. Hatch personified the American Dream," the group’s executive director, Matt Sandgren, said in a statement. "Born the son of a carpenter and plaster lather, he overcame the poverty of his youth to become a United States Senator.”
Sandgren highlighted the senator’s work on issues ranging from “tax and trade to religious liberty and healthcare,” saying, “Senator Hatch touched the hearts of countless individuals, and I know I speak for all of them when I say he will be dearly missed."
On the Finance Committee, Hatch played a key role shepherding the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — America's last major tax reform — through the Senate and into law. Over 750 bills he sponsored or co-sponsored eventually became law, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and State Children's Health Insurance Program Act. He retired in 2018, and was succeeded by Senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah).
The Hatch Foundation noted that when he retired, “Hatch held the distinction of having passed more legislation into law than any other Senator alive.”
He also played a leading role in the conservative movement as a co-founder of the Federalist Society in 1982, an organization created to spread conservative ideas in the legal community. It has since become among the most influential foundations in the United States, with scores of its members holding top roles in government and the federal judiciary, including six of the Supreme Court's current nine members. By the time Hatch retired from politics, Washington Post Magazine noted it had reached an “unprecedented peak of power and influence.”
Hatch also was a musician, playing the piano, violin, and organ and recording several songs for the Latter-Day-Saints Church and popular labels. His song “Souls Along the Way” was featured in Ocean’s Twelve, while the song “Heal Our Land” was performed at George W. Bush's second inauguration in 2005. Frank Zappa also recorded a song with Hatch named "Orrin Hatch on Skis."
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