I saw the mayor of D.C. claim that granting statehood to the the District was no different than granting statehood to any other state, and that it did not need a Constitutional amendment. Well, yes, it is totally different, and she needs to take it up with the writers of the Constitution, who regarded it as totally different, and yes, it would require a Constitutional amendment. D. C. was never “new” territory that could be folded into the company of states on equal terms. It was a carve out.
Well, technically West Virginia was a carve out as well.