Ervin was a senator from North Carolina and was a Democrat. He served from 1954 to 1974.
He was previously the representative for North Carolina’s 10th congressional district as a Democrat from 1945 to 1946.
![Photo of Sen. Samuel Ervin [D-NC, 1954-1974]](/static/legislator-photos/403898-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Ervin is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 1974 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Ervin sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 1973 to Dec 20, 1974. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Ervin was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:
- S. 754 (93rd): Speedy Trial Act
- S. 3418 (93rd): An Act to amend title 5, United States Code, by adding a section 552a, to safeguard individual privacy from the misuse of Federal records, to provide that …
- S.J.Res. 66 (93rd): A joint resolution to authorize the erection of a monument to the dead of the 1st Infantry Division, U.S. Forces in Vietnam.
- S. 3684 (93rd): A bill to secure to the Congress additional time in which to consider the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure which the Chief of …
- S. 2641 (93rd): An Act to confer jurisdiction upon the district court of the United States of certain civil actions brought by the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, …
- S. 2282 (93rd): A bill to change the name of the New Hope Dam and Lake, N.C., to the B. Everett Jordan Dam and Lake.
- S. 583 (93rd): An Act to promote the separation of constitutional powers by suspending the effectiveness of the Rules of Evidence for United States Courts and Magistrates, the amendments to …
Does 7 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Ervin sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (31%) Private Legislation (19%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (14%) Crime and Law Enforcement (12%) Law (10%) Economics and Public Finance (8%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Ervin recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 4252 (93rd): Criminal Justice Information Control and Protection of Private Act
- S. 4232 (93rd): Freedom from Military Surveillance Act
- S. 4227 (93rd): Watergate Reorganization and Reform Act
- S. 4095 (93rd): A bill to amend section 5(c) of the National Trails System Act …
- S.J.Res. 240 (93rd): A joint resolution requiring full public access to all facts and the …
- S. 4010 (93rd): Public Attorney Act
- S.Res. 389 (93rd): Resolution authorizing supplemental expenditures by the Committee on Government Operations.
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From May 1954 to Dec 1974, Ervin missed 577 of 5,891 roll call votes, which is 9.8%. This is better than the median of 13.4% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 1974. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
