All News Clips

Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware has reintroduced a bill that would transform the District of Columbia into the nation's 51st state. Carper is a Democrat and a longtime supporter of statehood for the District. His bill would shrink Washington, D.C., to a small enclave including the White House, the Capitol and the National Mall. The rest of the nation's capital would become the "State of New Columbia."

Mayer Brown litigators won a pro bono victory for the District of Columbia Council in a case concerning the validity of an amendment to the District’s charter. The Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit vacated an injunction that prohibited the DC Council from passing its own budget for the expenditure of local funds, a responsibility that previously belonged exclusively to Congress, but that was transferred to the DC Council by the Local Budget Autonomy Act of 2012.

Representatives from civil liberties, LGBT and reproductive rights groups have bonded together to fight against congressional interference in D.C. after a U.S. House of Representatives committee last Wednesday took aim at D.C. Council-approved law prohibiting employers from discriminating against employees for their reproductive health decisions. 

D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) is once again staging a fight to block House Republicans from interfering with local affairs, vowing to force a floor vote each time Congress attempts to quash a D.C. law.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) may not be allowed to vote in the House, but she is still threatening to make life difficult for House Republicans if they keep trying to overturn Washington, D.C.’s locally passed laws, especially new laws that protect employee reproductive choice and the rights of LGBTQ student groups.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., reaffirmed her effort Tuesday to fight congressional attempts to block the District of Columbia’s anti-discrimination laws, while activists detailed the consequences if those attempts are successful. In round two of a fight to preserve two laws that the District government argues combat discrimination based on reproductive health decisions and sexual orientation, Norton faces a familiar fight against policy riders attached to the District’s spending bill.

Pot policy is splintering the GOP. GOP support for medical marijuana is on the rise as backers look to couch legalization as a states’ rights issue, while other Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to beat back recreational pot laws like the one approved in Washington, D.C. The division reflects a political conundrum for the party, which is torn between social conservatives who still see marijuana as a gateway drug, and libertarian-leaning voters who want to legalize pot.

“This morning I was in Washington, Iowa. Washington, Iowa, is a little different than Washington, D.C. It’s pretty, the people there are hard-working, they don’t think that they’re the masters of people. It’s not the most prosperous place in the world, in the United States. Sadly, Washington, D.C., is. I don’t know if you know this — Washington, D.C., has the highest per capita income in the United States. Washington, D.C., has average home values of $800,000. Washington, D.C., doesn’t have unemployment.

Jeb Bush has been on the campaign for four official days and already hates Washington. And no, not the idea of Washington politics — which he is hoping to preside over — but the actual, capital D, District. At a campaign stop on Wednesday in Iowa, the Republican presidential contender made a comparison between Washington, Iowa, and Washington D.C.  

The House Committee on Appropriations voted Wednesday to block the District from using tax dollars to implement a law that bans employers from discriminating against workers based on their opinions or use of birth control or abortion. The vote marks the second time that House Republicans have sought to block the District from enforcing the law, which D.C. Council members say will combat workforce discrimination.