Leigh Hildebrand works on Capitol Hill, right in the middle of the sharply divided American political system.
Her role in the U.S. Senate, however, is strictly nonpartisan.
Hildebrand JD ’00 is the senior assistant parliamentarian, second in command on the team that reports to the lead Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough.
The role of parliamentarian is often referred to as the Senate’s referee with the legislative body’s rulebook as a guide.
And much like a referee for, say, an SEC football game between heated rivals, the role can come with a great deal of scrutiny. Over 19 years, Hildebrand has advised senators from both parties and five vice presidents. Her job is not to take sides but to uphold the rules and integrity of the Senate.
It’s really about giving our best advice about what is appropriate for the Senate as an institution. It’s important during these very contentious times to have people who are institutionalists.” — Leigh Hildebrand, senior assistant parliamentarian for the U.S. Senate
Ms. Hildebrand Goes to Washington
Hildebrand, who comes from a family of rice farmers in Stuttgart, Arkansas, got her first taste of Washington, D.C., and the Senate when she was 16.
As a junior in high school, she earned a spot in the U.S. Senate Page Program. It was her first time away from home. The experience made an impression.
“I decided I’m going to come back here someday,” she says.
After attending Westminster College in Missouri, Hildebrand went looking for a larger program for law school. And that’s when she visited Athens for the first time.
“Love at first sight,” she says.
She also became a diehard Bulldog, coming back to Athens annually to attend games at Sanford Stadium. She may be completely nonpartisan in politics but not when it comes to football.
Career Nonpartisan
After earning her Juris Doctor and litigating for the Federal Election Commission, Hildebrand found a position on a public service job listserv that went to School of Law graduates. It was an assistant parliamentarian job in the Senate.
During her interview, her experience as a Senate page came up. And the man who would become her boss asked her what she remembered of him from that time.
She drew a blank. Rather than concocting something flattering, Hildebrand recalls admitting, “I actually don’t remember you.”
He was impressed by her willingness to tell him the truth. Uncomfortable honesty is part of a parliamentarian’s job. Sooner or later, she’ll upset people on both sides of the aisle.
She got the job.
While the duties of the position can vary from reading bills and designating them for committee or preparing scripts to open the Senate, occasionally parliamentarians make decisions that can capture the political spotlight.
Those familiar with American politics know that passing most major bills through the Senate requires a 60-vote majority to avoid a filibuster. One way around that threshold is a complex process called reconciliation.
It allows for certain budget-specific bills to pass the Senate with a simple majority. However, the rules for this process are complex. One threshold that must be passed to comply with federal law is that the policy impact of the bill cannot outweigh the budgetary impact.
You can’t, for example, outlaw people from wearing the color orange and pass it through reconciliation. It has a huge policy impact on UGA’s SEC rivals and has very little impact on the federal budget.
Hildebrand has helped advise the Senate on more contentious matters, such as health care policy and the federal minimum wage. When these matters come up every few years, parliamentarians work around the clock studying the bills, the rules and precedents, and the policy implications. Once in 2022, Hildebrand was up for 60 hours straight reviewing provisions in and amendments to one of these reconciliation bills.
The advice given by the office on these and other weighty matters often draws intense public scrutiny of the Senate’s complex rules and its interpreters.
For her part, Hildebrand believes those rules, which can slow or even throw wrenches in the legislative process, have an important purpose.
“It’s good to have consensus or to work toward that,” she says. “And we can help. That’s what we do.”
