Giving DC a vote in Congress

This issue has resurfaced again as reported by the Washington Post.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is teaming up with U.S. Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.) to introduce a bill that would for the first time give the District a full vote in Congress, a sign of bipartisan cooperation that advocates of D.C. voting rights hailed as a breakthrough.

The legislation, set to be unveiled at a news conference today, would expand the House from 435 to 437 seats, giving a vote to the District as well as a fourth seat to Utah, the state next in line to enlarge its congressional delegation based on the 2000 Census.


The bill would expand the House from 435 to 437 seats, giving a vote to Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). Utah would get the other new seat.

Davis first introduced a version of the bill two years ago, but he struggled to persuade Norton and House Democrats to support it. Through a spokeswoman, Norton declined yesterday to discuss her change of heart, promising to explain all at today's news conference.

James Joyner at OTB and Betsy have excellent posts on the subject. James raises the constitutional issue. Namely article 1 Section 2 of the constitution which says-

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.

I agree with James. The constitution is pretty clear. DC is not a state and therefore doesn't get a vote in Congress.

Betsy points out-

Doing so would require an amendment to the Constitution, the last attempt to do so was a proposed amendment in 1978 that was only ratified by 16 states.

If a constitutional ammendment was needed almost 30 years ago, it should be so now also. By the way I wouldn't be opposed to the constitution being ammended to give DC a voting member in Congress. It is unfair(if constitutional) that those residing in the district aren't properly represented in Congress.

Betsy wrote something else- They're planning to make it an at-larg seat so that they don't have to redistrict Utah and perhaps the one Democratic member from Utah would be gerrymandered out of his seat.

Utah could always re-draw their congressional lines creating a fourth district. That would solve that issue. Unless I'm wrong, I don't see this bill going anywhere. That's just my take based on the obvious constitutionality questions.

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