John Cornyn III ( COR-nin; born February 2, 1952) is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the senior United States senator from Texas, a seat he has held since 2002. A member of the Republican Party, he served on the Texas Supreme Court from 1991 to 1997 and as the attorney general of Texas from 1999 to 2002. Born in Houston, Cornyn is a graduate of Trinity University and St. Mary's University School of Law and received an LL.M. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. He was a judge on Texas's 37th District Court from 1985 to 1991. He was elected an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court, where he served from 1991 to 1997. While serving on that court, Cornyn played an important role in crafting its decision to uphold the constitutionality of Texas's anti-sodomy law (later ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas). In 1998, Cornyn was elected Attorney General of Texas, serving one term before winning a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2002. He was reelected in 2008, 2014, and 2020. Cornyn chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2009 to 2013, and served as the Senate majority whip for the 114th and 115th Congresses.