DC Voting Rights

[The following was submitted as a post to the "Congress.org" Website on 2/19/09.]

I support a seat for Washington, D.C. in the House of Representatives in Congress because the constitutional provision respecting the creation of the "exclusive" jurisdiction for the District of Columbia could not lawfully disenfranchise DC residents (formerly residents of the State of Maryland). The 5th Amendment's "due process" requirements protects those persons.

No mere act of Congress can abrogate voting rights for citizens of a state. How is it that the citizens of Arlington County, Virginia were automatically restored to full voting rights while their (former) District counterparts on the north side of the Potomac were not? That is patently unconstitutional, regardless of the passage of time that the constitutional error has been allowed by feckless twits to stand.

The creation of exclusive federal jurisdiction for the District was not ever intended to disenfranchise those residents, but only to allocate administrative responsibilities.

FURTHER: DC residents should be allowed to STILL vote for Maryland's two senators, since they could not be lawfully disengaged therefrom without "due process."

These are much better results (and politically more likely) than creating a separate state out of the District of Columbia.

(See post 10/6/14)