Now that the proposal to give D.C. a voting representative in the House has been defeated in the Senate, advocates should resist the urge to despair and instead step back and re-evaluate their future strategy. They can win this campaign, but basic changes are needed in their approach.
Proponents made two key decisions this time around. First, in seeking new House seats for both the overwhelmingly Democratic District and Republican Utah, advocates wisely took a positive step toward neutralizing one of their two biggest obstacles, the stridently partisan tone of their appeal in years past. But as long as D.C. representationonly means adding a solidly Democratic seat in the House and by implication two more entrenched Democrats in the Senate, the proposal will fail to gain sufficient support for passage either in Congress or among the states as a constitutional amendment. Proponents should retain the partisan balancing approach but combine it with an explicit disavowal of precedents for adding Senate seats to the equation.
Second, proponents unwisely opted to try a legislative end-run around the Constitution. There is a basic reason why the amendment process was used in every previous attempt, 150 of them, going back to 1888. Congress simply does not have the authority to grant representation. The Constitution specifies that only states are represented in Congress.
The attempt to sidestep this requirement reinforced the impression that proponents were political opportunists without respect for the nation’s fundamental law. While the legislative end-run approach won in the House, proponents should not attach too much significance to the 57-42 vote in the Senate, as several of the supporters from both parties cannot be counted on as reliable backers for the future. If proponents insist on pushing the current proposal, odds are it will lose additional borderline supporters as the constitutional flaws are pressed home by opponents.
Proponents need to suck it up and resign themselves to the hard work of getting sufficient support around the nation for passage of a constitutional amendment granting the District one House vote and one for a reliably Republican state. This will take time, but the prospects of ultimate success for such a bipartisan approach are immensely enhanced by respecting the Constitution and challenging our fellow citizens to grant to District residents the same right of representation enjoyed by everybody else. Finally, Eleanor Holmes Norton has for many years done yeoman’s labor for the cause, but fresh leadership and new energy are needed. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty is the right man in the right place at the right time.
