James Norton: “I want to end this debate by finally letting genuine constitutional scholars speak to this bill. To guarantee the…”

“I want to end this debate by finally letting genuine constitutional scholars speak to this bill. To guarantee the Framers' promise to the citizens of Maryland and Virginia, who contributed their land to form this Capital City, the very first Congress enforced the District clause of the Constitution by law, guaranteeing the status quo during the 10-year transition period, and they said, by law thereafter, as memorialized in the Constitution itself. The Framers had left Congress fully armed with 'exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever,' which former Court of Appeals Judge Kenneth Starr, who testified in favor of the bill, said, left Congress with power 'majestic in scope.' Professor Viet Dinh, President Bush's former Attorney General for Legal Policy, his point man on the Constitution in the Ashcroft Justice Department, testified in two separate committees that the bill is constitutional. He said that since the birth of the Republic, the courts and the Congress itself have treated the District as a State in treaties and in statutes and in applying the Constitution to the city. Members who reject the views even of conservative scholars and of the Supreme Court and the Federal courts supporting their views should be confident to send this bill to a conservative Supreme Court. Members are elected officials who can neither run nor hide behind their personal and inexpert views on the Constitution.”