To The Teacher
The debate over possible statehood for Washington, DC stretches back more than a century, and this issue has recently gained increased political momentum. Currently, the District of Columbia is not a state, and its population of 700,000 people do not have full voting rights and have no representation in the U.S. Senate. For many residents, DC statehood represents a basic civil rights issue.
In April 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to address this, called H.R. 51, which would make Washington, DC the country’s 51st state. However, the bill still faces steep hurdles in the Senate.
This lesson consists of two readings that consider the current debate over DC statehood. The first reading showcases the moral and political arguments offered by supporters and opponents of statehood. The second reading looks at more practical issues, considering what it would take for a DC statehood proposal to become law and for its residents to gain full political representation. Questions for discussion follow each reading.
Reading One
The Logic of Statehood for Washington, DC
The debate over possible statehood for Washington, DC stretches back more than a century, and this issue has recently gained increased political momentum. Currently, the District of Columbia is not a state, and its population of 700,000 people do not have full voting rights and have no representation in the U.S. Senate. Making the district into a state would give its population two senators and much greater autonomy over local governance. For many residents, DC statehood represents a basic civil rights issue.
The issue of statehood was hardly up for discussion for most of the 19th century, despite the efforts of a few outspoken advocates such as A.E. Redstone, a labor leader who proposed turning the district into the state of Columbia in 1893.
Since then, DC has gained some greater autonomy. Over time residents have won the right to elect their own mayor and city council, although Congress has oversight power over local laws. DC residents can also vote for the U.S. President. Currently, the district has one non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives, who can participate in committees but cannot vote on final legislation.
Recently, the debate has been reignited. Supporters of statehood argue that it is a matter of fair representation and democracy. They point out that the district has a larger population than two existing states, Wyoming and Vermont. Opponents counter that DC statehood would violate the U.S. constitution, that it would defy the intentions of the nation’s founders, and that it would be too complicated to implement.
The major arguments of the movement for DC statehood were captured in a May 2021 article by Joan E. Greve, a politics reporter writing for The Guardian. Greve wrote:
For statehood advocates, this moment feels like an opportunity to correct a 200-year-old injustice. The District’s population of 700,000 is more than that of Wyoming and Vermont, and DC residents pay more in federal taxes than their counterparts in 22 states, yet they do not have congressional representation. Perhaps even more infuriating for statehood supporters is the fact that DC laws are subject to congressional review, meaning lawmakers from around the country have an effective veto on local proposals.
The issue of race is also front and center, given that DC’s citizens are predominantly people of color and their full rights as Americans are being curtailed mostly by Republicans in the Senate, who skew heavily white.
DC residents themselves largely support statehood. In 2016, the District held a referendum on the issue, and 86 percent of voters backed statehood.
“This fight is the most pressing voting rights fight and the most pressing civil rights fight of our lifetime,” said Jamal Holtz, a leader of 51 for 51, which advocates for statehood. “We should not be okay with American citizens not having voter representation.”
The lack of representation for DC residents has been the subject of international condemnation. The United Nations human rights committee has repeatedly said DC’s current political status is a human rights violation that flies in the face of America’s international treaty obligations.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/03/washington-dc-statehood-51-stars
Opponents of DC statehood offer a variety of arguments. Some decry the district’s small population, although DC is home to more people than some existing states. Others, such as Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA) have argued that the district should not be a state because “DC would be the only state without an airport, without a car dealership, without a capital city, without a landfill.” In March 2021, the editors of the National Review put forward some additional points against DC statehood, writing:
Even if the DC statehood effort had a reasonable chance of passage... such an amendment would undermine stable federal governance in a number of ways. First it would put the seat of the national government under the controlling authority of a potentially hostile government. In Federalist No. 43, James Madison warned that without federal control of the capital, “the public authority might be insulted and its proceedings interrupted with impunity.”
Only once has a Republican presidential candidate, Richard Nixon in 1972, broken the 20 percent threshold in DC Not a single city council member is a Republican. The seat of national power was intentionally created as an independent entity to avoid having Congress and the president rely on, or answer to, the governor of a state.
Washington is also the city of the permanent political class — a place of tremendous wealth that is largely reliant on American taxpayers. DC has a higher median income than any state, and its recession-proof suburbs are some of the wealthiest in the country. In many ways, large swaths of Maryland and Virginia already act as the voice of the federal government. That is exactly what the Founders were trying to avoid when they created a federal district….
Of course, if Democrats were truly concerned about the lack of representation among Washingtonians, they might be working on ideas that would allow DC residents to become Marylanders or Virginians. Instead, they are intent on creating — or, at the very least, normalizing the idea of — a liberal enclave that would give them two permanent senators. Because the agitation for DC statehood is little more than a cynical play for partisan advantage.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/03/d-c-statehood-is-an-idea-whose-time-should-never-come/
In response to these charges, Democrats counter that Republicans’ opposition to DC statehood derives not from principle, but simply from the fact that the district’s residents would likely elect two Democratic Senators, something conservatives are loath to allow. They also point out that polling indicates that majorities in both Maryland and DC favor independent statehood for the district over absorbing its residents into an existing state.
While the back-and-forth argument over statehood continues, the existence of 700,000 residents in DC without full voting rights ensures that tensions will persist if the district’s status remains unchanged.
For Discussion:
- How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?
- According to the reading, why are some people in favor of DC statehood?
- The National Review editors outline a few points in opposition to statehood. Which do you believe are the strongest, and which are weaker?
- What do you think is the most compelling argument presented in the reading (for either case)? Why?
- Joan Greve writes that “the issue of race is also front and center” in the statehood debate. What are the reasons for this?
- How do you think the inclusion of DC as a state might impact the future of the country?
Reading Two
Overcoming the Obstacles to Statehood
The debate over the status of Washington, DC and the voting rights of its citizens has made headlines this year. In April the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to address the issue, called H.R. 51, which would make DC the country’s 51st state. However, the bill still faces steep hurdles in the Senate, and it would need to overcome barriers outlined in the U.S. Constitution.
The Constitution originally established DC as an enclave that would be controlled by the federal government at the service of the American electorate, and this long served as a decisive argument against statehood. As Jeff Greenfield, a contributing editor for Politico Magazine, explained in a May 2021 article:
Over the years, DC has been given dollops of political power in the form of its own mayor and City Council. Most significantly, in 1961, the ratification of the 23rd Amendment granted the district votes in the Electoral College, equal to the number accorded the least populous state. But the idea of simply turning the District of Columbia into a state by statute, the way every other new state joined, has often been seen as a constitutional impossibility. Attorneys general ranging ideologically from Robert F. Kennedy to Ed Meese have weighed in on the same side of this argument: Because the federal district was created by the Constitution, only an amendment to the Constitution could turn it into a state; and only an amendment could grant DC votes in the House and Senate. (That latter idea was proposed in 1978 but fell short of state ratification.)
The current resolution passed by the House of Representatives to make DC a state avoids these Constitutional issues by keeping a small part of the city—including core government buildings—as a separate federal district, while making the bulk of the city into its own state. Enacting this approach would not require a constitutional amendment. However, the legislation would need to pass through the Senate. A vote on the bill would most likely fall along party lines, with Democrats voting in favor and Republicans against. The Senate filibuster, a tactic that can allow senators to prevent a bill from being brought to a vote, would make it impossible to bring the bill to a full vote unless 60 Senators move to do so—a high bar given that the chamber is divided evenly between the two parties.
Meagan Flynn and Teddy Amenabar, writers for the Washington Post, discussed these political realities in an April 2021 article:
Now that Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the White House, advocates of making Washington, DC, the 51st state believe they are on the brink of a historic opportunity….
Those opposed to making DC a state have argued that statehood for DC can’t happen without a constitutional amendment. They say the founders intended the entire District to serve as the seat of the federal government, not as a state. But legislation put forth by nonvoting Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) would not eliminate the “seat of government” that the Constitution calls for. Instead, H.R. 51 would shrink the national capital to a small complex of federal buildings, while allowing the rest of the District to become a state….
Democrats occupy half the seats in that chamber [the Senate], thanks to the January victories of Jon Ossoff and Raphael G. Warnock of Georgia, both of whom support statehood. That creates a 50-50 split in the Senate among Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President Harris able to cast the tiebreaking vote. She, like Biden, supports statehood.
But because of the Senate filibuster — which requires 60 votes rather than 51 for legislation to pass — a simple majority of Democrats in the Senate isn’t good enough to pass statehood; the bill would need the support of at least 10 Senate Republicans as well.
Alternatively, the Senate could vote to end the filibuster, meaning that 50 votes in favor of statehood — plus Harris as the tiebreaker — would suffice.
A number of senators are pushing various filibuster reform proposals[.]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/01/08/washington-dc-statehood-faq/
Achieving statehood would require popular organizing to force the issue — and perhaps for a sustained period of time.
But a growing number of youth advocates are stepping up to the plate. On National Public Radio, a young advocate, Ty Hobson-Powell, said he views DC statehood as a racial justice issue. He believes that racism plays into some politicians' unwillingness to consider statehood. "We are a city of Black and Brown people," he said. "To ignore the racism attached to our lack of statehood would be hard to do." Hobson-Powell took this message to a national audience when he spoke at the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington last August.
For Discussion:
- How much of the material in this reading was new to you, and how much was already familiar? Do you have any questions about what you read?
- According to the reading, what are the Constitutional obstacles to DC statehood?
- What are the ways in which proponents of the bill are working to overcome Constitutional barriers?
- What kind of organizing do you think would be necessary to overcome the barriers to DC statehood?
- What do you think? Should DC become a state? Explain your reasoning.
Research assistance provided by Akin Olla.