Debate goes on for D.C.vote - Metropolitan - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Debate goes on for D.C.vote - Metropolitan - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper: "Debate goes on for D.C.vote By Gary Emerling THE WASHINGTON TIMES March 15, 2007 Legal analysts yesterday debated before a House committee the constitutionality of a bill that would give the District congressional voting rights, wrangling over the right of Congress to enact the change and sparking concern among lawmakers that the measure might violate the Constitution. 'Is it possible ... that we are about to step into a huge constitutional problem?' Rep. John Conyers Jr., Michigan Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked the panel. 'Can we all have good will and not be able to do anything on this [because] the Constitution has us tied in knots?' " Proponents of the voting rights bill ar preparing for the measure to be moved by the end of the month to the House floor for a vote, where it likely will pass under a Democratic majority. Dozens of D.C. voting rights supporters, including D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, attended the hearing. The bill would grant the District, which leans heavily Democratic, a full vote in the House and create an additional seat for Utah, a state that leans Republican. The bill faces a final hurdle in a markup session today before the Judiciary Committee, although the witnesses at the hearing yesterday -- who included law professors from local universities -- stood 3-to-1 in favor of the bill's constitutionality, much to the chagrin of some Republican members. "Since D.C. is not a state, it cannot have a voting member in the House," said Rep. Lamar S. Smith, Texas Republican and ranking minority member of the committee. "That's not even a tough law school question." The emotional and practical arguments for giving the District a vote were repeated by witnesses and lawmakers: D.C. residents pay federal taxes, and fight and die in the country's wars. At issue are the semantics of certain clauses in the U.S. Constitution. One clause asserts congressional authority over the District, and another states that the House will be composed of members chosen by the people of the states. Viet D. Dinh, a law professor and co-director of Asian Law and Policy Studies at Georgetown University Law Center, said the Constitution does grant Congress the authority to provide the District with House representation. He said lawmakers allowed D.C. residents to vote in Maryland and Virginia elections before the District was formally designated the nation's capital in 1800. "It showed that Congress had the power to provide District residents with the right to vote, even if such a right could be seen as transitional or residual," he said. Mr. Dinh also argued that case law and Supreme Court precedent show that Congress has the authority to treat the District as a state, and the Constitution does not prohibit lawmakers from doing so.