WASHINGTON _ Rep. Trey Gowdy announced Wednesday he would not seek re-election.
The South Carolina Republican will leave behind a committee chairmanship he only recently obtained, as well as a controversial legacy and a reliably seat for his party.
What he might have to look forward to is a possible judicial appointment.
Gowdy, from conservative Spartanburg, has for years made it no secret that he chafed under Washington's political mores and social codes, and that he actually longed for the rules and practices of the legal world where he made his career for decades.
Wednesday, Gowdy said he looked forward to returning to the law and to South Carolina.
"I will not be filing for re-election to Congress nor seeking any other political or elected office; instead I will be returning to the justice system," Gowdy said in a statement. "Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system."
Gowdy is currently chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a position to which he was named last summer. He also serves on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees.
He became a household name during his chairmanship of the now-disbanded committee to investigate the deadly September 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. He helped uncover Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.
Though he didn't say what job in the "justice system" he might pursue, there's an opening for a judge on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over South Carolina.
