By Seth Stern, CQ Staff

A pair of sophomore Democrats, Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Hank Johnson of Georgia, are the newest subcommittee chairmen on the House Judiciary Committee.

The committee announced Thursday that Cohen will chair the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law and Johnson will head the Subcommittee on Courts and Competition Policy, which will have a narrower jurisdiction this Congress. Johnson’s panel will handle antitrust law but not intellectual property issues, which will be pushed up to the full committee level.

Cohen replaces Linda T. Sánchez , D-Calif., who gave up her gavel after getting a seat on the Ways and Means Committee. Johnson replaces Howard L. Berman , D-Calif., who is the new chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Democrats added three new members to their side of the panel: Charlie Gonzalez of Texas, Dan Maffei of New York and Pedro R. Pierluisi of Puerto Rico.

Republicans had earlier announced four additions to the committee to replace members who were defeated in their 2008 primary or general re-election bids. The new Republican members are freshmen Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Gregg Harper of Mississippi and Tom Rooney of Florida, as well as Ted Poe of Texas.

The committee adopted a resolution to continue an impeachment inquiry into the conduct of a Louisiana federal judge. A committee task force chaired by Adam B. Schiff , D-Calif., will continue investigating allegations that G. Thomas Porteous, a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, committed perjury by signing false financial disclosure forms under oath.

The committee also approved an amendment to its rules sponsored by ranking Republican Lamar Smith of Texas that would require the posting of committee votes on its Web site within three legislative days.