There is nothing in our Constitution’s history or its fundamental principles suggesting that the Framers intended to deny the precious right to vote to those who live in the capital of the great democracy they founded.
– Kenneth Starr and Patricia Wald, 9/15/2006
The District of Columbia has no representation in the United States Congress save for a solitary non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives, despite being home to 581,530 tax-paying American citizens, the majority of which are African American. A recent bill which passed the house would have granted the District of Columbia its first ever vote in the House of Representatives. This bill did not make it to the Senate Floor, despite some bi-partisan support, due to disagreements between government officials regarding the constitutional issues surrounding the District of Columbia and its relationship to Congress. Read the rest of this entry »
