After Passage of Two Anti-D.C. Home Rule Bills, Norton Vows to Fight Advancement in the Senate

WASHINGTON, D.C. - After the House passed the second set of two anti-D.C. home rule bills it voted on this week to change D.C. laws today, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) vowed to fight their advancement in the Senate.

The first bill, the D.C. Judicial Nominations Reform Act, was introduced by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and would eliminate the Judicial Nomination Commission, a panel of seven D.C. residents who screen, select and recommend candidates to be judges in local D.C. courts. The president must make a nomination from a list of candidates recommended by the Commission. Every other U.S. state and territory appoints its own judges with no role for the federal government. The second bill, the D.C. Policing Protection Act, was introduced by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) and would significantly weaken D.C.'s limitations on vehicular pursuits by police officers.

"These outrageous anti-D.C. home rule bills are being introduced and passed by members of Congress who do not represent D.C., who are not accountable to D.C. residents, and have no mandate to substitute their own policy judgments for laws that were democratically enacted by the District," Norton said.

"Rep. Sessions' alarming bill would eliminate the already small role D.C. is allowed to play in the selection of its own local judges and hand that power entirely to President Trump. Most crimes in D.C. are already prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney, who is nominated by the president. This bill would mean President Trump, who has extensive experience as a criminal defendant, would take an even larger portion of D.C.'s justice system from the people of D.C. It's an offensive and unacceptable proposition.

"Rep. Higgins' bill would impose his personal views about vehicular pursuits, presumably formed during his time as a law enforcement officer in Lafayette, Louisiana, on D.C. Vehicular pursuits by police officers are inherently dangerous for officers, suspects, and bystanders, and alternatives often exist to capture a suspect. D.C. law allows vehicular pursuits in some circumstances, unlike 2% of local police departments which prohibit them altogether. Rep. Higgins thinks he knows better than D.C. how to strike the proper balance in D.C., but the nation's capital is a very different place than Lafayette.

"Regardless of the substantive problems with these specific bills, D.C. residents are capable of governing themselves on all local matters without assistance from House Republicans. I will fight advancement of these bills in the Senate. D.C. residents need home rule, and we deserve statehood."

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