House Judiciary roster faces post-election shake-up

The House Judiciary Committee's roster in the next congressional session will look markedly different after Election Day, with implications for the entertainment and tech industries.

Rep. Howard Berman's (D-CA) loss to Rep Brad Sherman (D-CA) leaves an open seat on the panel and deals a tough blow to the entertainment industry. Rep Berman was a loyal advocate for the entertainment industry's policy issues while serving on Judiciary, including pushing for tougher protections for copyrighted movies and music online. He was also an early supporter of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act. The committee's top leadership spots will also get reshuffled. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is expected to head up Judiciary in the next Congress, as current chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) is term-limited. Rep Smith is expected to make a bid for the chairman seat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, according to a tech insider. With Rep Goodlatte slated to chair the full committee, that leaves the Intellectual Property (IP) subcommittee chairmanship up for grabs. The subpanel oversees several issues that are important to tech, including antitrust, copyright, patent and trademark matters. Rep. Howard Coble (R-N.C.) has said he's going to make another run at chairing the IP sub-panel, but no decisions have been made on who will get the gavel.