Sanford Dixon Bishop Jr. (born February 4, 1947)[1] is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Georgia's 2nd congressional district since 1993.

Bishop is a Life Member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, initiated at Morehouse's Pi chapter.

[12] In 1995, a 5–4 majority of the Supreme Court ruled that the redistricting of Georgia had violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

[21] Bishop won reelection to a tenth term against Republican State Representative Mike Keown, 51%–49%,[22] the closest margin of his career.

In a year where the Democrats lost the majority in the House, The New York Times wrote that Bishop's reelection odds seemed slim because he was an "incumbent in an anti-Washington year", because he was a black man in a majority white district (49% White, 47% Black), and because of a scholarship scandal at his nonprofit.

[29] Serving a primarily agricultural district, Bishop has fought to preserve the federal price supports for peanuts, southwest Georgia's most important crop.

The New York Times quoted the chairman of the agency that administers federal farm programs in Georgia as saying, "It's questionable whether it would have survived without the votes [Bishop] brought to it".

The people's right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage, or traditions on public property, including schools, shall not be infringed.

[31] On October 10, 2002, Bishop was one of only four of 36 Congressional Black Caucus members to vote for the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War.

The other three Congressional Black Caucus members who voted for the resolution are no longer members of Congress: Bill Jefferson, Albert Wynn, and Harold Ford Jr.[32][33][34] On September 10, 2007, Bishop endorsed Barack Obama for President and co-chaired the Georgia for Obama campaign; his wife, Vivian Creighton Bishop, a municipal court clerk in Columbus, co-chaired the Georgia Women for Hillary committee.

[35] Bishop serves on the Appropriations Committee, and chairs the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies.

[38] In September 2010, the Associated Press reported that Bishop had, between 2003 and 2005, directed scholarships and awards funded by the Congressional Black Caucus to ineligible persons, including his stepdaughter, Aayesha Owens Reese; his niece, Emmaundia J. Whitaker; and other people with close ties to his family, threatening to turn the program into a political problem for the party.

[40] Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington mentioned Bishop in its annual Most Corrupt Members of Congress report in 2011.

Bishop told The Albany Herald that he was aware of fraud in the program, but that the settlement's anti-fraud provisions would prevent disbursement of funds to those who didn't qualify.

[43][44] Interviews with Slaughter have circulated online and criticism has been raised about his comments about fraud allegations leading to the end of the program.