Constitutional Law

D.C. a Step Closer to Needing New License Plates

Fulfilling recent prophecies, both the House and Senate are pressing forward on bills to give the District of Columbia a voting member in the U.S. House of Representatives. With opponents’ options limited by a 62-34 vote advancing the bill in the Senate, debate is turning to whether such legislation would be constitutional.

The Wall Street Journal sides with the bulk of congressional Republicans, editorializing today that “the legislation runs afoul of the plain language of the Constitution, which provides that House members shall be chosen ‘by the People of the several States’ and stipulates that the District of Columbia is not a state.”

However, WSJ’s Law Blog points out that others see the issue as more complicated. Among them is Ken Starr, who said in 2006, “We have carefully considered this question and believe for three reasons the bill is within Congress’s authority: It is consistent with fundamental constitutional principles; it is consistent with the language of Congress’s constitutional power; and it is consistent with the governing legal precedents.”

The Washington Post offers a historic timeline of D.C.’s long struggle for representation in Congress here.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on February 25, 2009 (boomark / email).