Jim Sensenbrenner is an American politician and lawyer who served as a U.S. Representative for Wisconsin from 1979 to 2021. As a Republican, he was a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee and served as its chairman from 2001 to 2007. He was the principal author of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act, enacted in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Throughout his extensive career, Sensenbrenner was a prominent conservative voice on issues ranging from immigration and national security to intellectual property.