A legal scholar says the U.S. Constitution is unambiguous regarding legislation that would give the historically Democratic District of Columbia a voting member of Congress.
The DC Voting Rights Act is nearly identical to legislation in the last Congress that called for adding a voting member for Washington, DC, and the state of Utah. Although the bill sponsored by DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton passed the House, it failed by three votes in the Senate. The bill was resurrected this month and received a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Tuesday. Hans von Spakovsky, a visiting legal scholar at The Heritage Foundation and former member of the Federal Election Commission, says the DC Voting Rights Act is "clearly and plainly unconstitutional." "There are many different provisions in the Constitution that make it very clear that to have a representative in the House of Representatives, you have to be a state," he points out. "This was acknowledged by Congress itself back in 1977 when it actually passed a constitutional amendment that would have given DC representation in Congress, but it failed to gain the approval of the 38 states that are required for a constitutional amendment." Von Spakovsky says the country's Founding Fathers, including James Madison, warned that a nation's capital should not be subject to political pressure from a state government.
If you believe OneNewsNow.com is an important source for Christian news, please consider a small tax-deductible gift for this service.
