I feel for D.C. residents. Really, I do. It is a shame that in our Republic the citizens of its capital city are not represented in its legislative bodies.
This week, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that would give one vote in the U.S. House to the representative of the District of Columbia. Currently, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton has the right to speak, among other actions, but has no vote.
But the Senate-passed bill is likely unconstitutional:
The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislature.
No person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the age of twenty five years, and been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that state in which he shall be chosen.
~U.S. Constitution, Article I, Sec. 2.
There’s no doubt in my mind, at least from what I understand from the reading above, that the Constitution is clear: The members of the House of Representatives must be elected by the people of a state. The District of Columbia is not a state.
Through the harrowing, frightening eight years of the Bush Administration, progressives and Constitution-lovers cringed at the various presidential actions that served to only shred our founding documents. It is a shame that Democrats, now in majority power, seek to do the same thing.
The best way for the citizens of D.C. to gain a vote in Congress is to petition the Congress for statehood. Either that, or seek an amendment to the Constitution allowing a voting member from the capital district. That makes the most sense and it is the most constitutional, ethical and moral means to achieving the goal of fair representation of the District of Columbia’s residents.
February 27th, 2009 at 8:22 am
What’s this?!? What’s this?!? Matt making a libertarian, textualist argument? Will wonders never cease?
(P.S. There is another, very simple alternative: retrocesssion of all residential neighborhoods in the District back to Maryland.)
February 27th, 2009 at 10:06 am
I agree with you on this one. Unfortunately for DC residents, amending the constitution is much harder than passing a piece of legislation. Fortunately for politicians looking to bolster their progressive credentials, passing a piece of legislation is easier than amending the Constitution…
March 1st, 2009 at 2:51 am
actually Matt what really needs to happen is for D.C. to be returned to Maryland. In the same way that the Virginia portion was returned to Virginia.
March 1st, 2009 at 11:45 am
That is certainly a solution, Adam, and I don’t necessarily see a problem with the nation’s capital being inside a particular state. That might have been a concern to the 13 “independent” states when the nation first formed, but maybe not as much now. I’d venture to say that 200 some years ago most Americans saw themselves as citizens of their state first, the U.S. second. I think that’s probably switched in the centuries since.
Although, returning the capital district to the state might prompt another constitutionality argument:
From Article I, Sec. 8: “To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings;”
But either way, the current Senate bill isn’t the way to get this done. It tramples over the Constitution.
March 1st, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Hey Kip… Sorry your comment got switched over to moderation. See my reply to Adam below for my thoughts on returning DC to Maryland.
On the whole libertarian thing… I think I’d prefer to call it an American reading the Constitution and taking it seriously thing.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:38 pm
As a resident of DC, I would hate to be part of Maryland. However, this country needs to figure out a way to allow DC to have a voting rep in Congress. A lot has changed since DC was formed and the Consitution was signed. It isn’t the same anymore.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Jaunito… Would you rather D.C. be a state of its own? I think the Constitution is pretty clear: Only states have voting rep’s in the Senate or House. I kind of like it that way, actually; I wouldn’t support giving any non-state the right to vote in the Senate or House.
But, at the same time, it isn’t fair for American citizens who are residents of D.C. to not have solid representation.
It’s a big paradox with, as it seems, unclear answers and no easy solutions.