D.C. Statehood: Not Without a Constitutional Amendment

Heritage.org ^ | 01/28/1993 | R. Hewitt Pate

[DFG]

Statehood proposals for the District of Columbia have been around for years. Today, however, we have a President pledged to support D.C. statehood. Congress is controlled by the Democrats, whose platform supports statehood. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the so-called non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives from D.C., has introduced a statehood proposal in the current session of Congress.1 Jesse Jackson, the "Shadow Senator” from the District, was recently arrested while leading a group of pro-statehood protesters blocking an intersection near the Capitol.2 And readers of The Washington Post received an Independence Day issue of the Post's Sunday magazine devoted to the statehood cause.3 In short, statehood matters may be coming to a head in the political arena.

What most statehood proponents ignore, however, is a fundamental question that should precede their political campaign: even if it were a good idea, can Congress make D.C. a state without a constitutional amendment? As a partisan matter, support for statehood is almost exclusively Democratic, as would be New Columbia's congressional delegation. As a constitutional matter, however, the Justice Department under both Democratic and Republican administrations has consistently agreed that statehood for the District requires a constitutional amendment; it cannot be done by mere majority vote in Congress. A review of the District's history, the terms of the Constitution, and the practicalities of making D.C. a state, reveals that statehood legislation is ill-conceived at best.

[SuperLuminal]

Surely this guy is joking!

He needs to stop taking so many ‘funny’ pills...

[HamiltonJay]

Seems to me if DC wants to jettison some of its land, that it would have to give it back to MD where it came from in the first place.

[M-cubed]

Hell...they didn't need the SC or the Constitution to steal a Presidential election......Why would they need them to make DC or Mexico a state?....Its mob rule and nobody wants to admit it...even republicans... *spit

[Secret Agent Man]

[DMZFrank]

We had better wake up to the reality of this post-constitutional US that we live in, The Demon-RATS STOLE THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION BY VIOLATING ARTICLE II, SECTION 3 of the constitution and the SCOTUS declined to review the matter!!!!

I know that it hard to accept, but that is the truth. It may be necessary to consider a counter-revolution.....