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Old February 25, 2009, 05:21 PM   #2
azredhawk44
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Join Date: September 28, 2005
Location: Mesa, AZ
Posts: 6,465
The more interesting angle of this is that the Dems are going to pad their lead in the House by adding DC.

And the fact that DC is not even a state... that's reprehensible.

Seems to me a Constitutional Amendment would be necessary to give DC a vote in the House.

Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution:

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.



Doesn't say anything about Federal Districts or Territories getting representatives in the House.

I smell a SCOTUS challenge.


ETA: Congress definitely didn't want DC to have House or Senate votes as of 1961, according to Amendment 23 to the Constitution:

The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct: A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.

They would have included such wording in this amendment, otherwise.

I'll be raising holy heck with my representatives over this, I'm certain.
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