May 15, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 81 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E599]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA COURTS HOME RULE ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 15, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of 
Columbia Courts Home Rule Act. This bill would give the Council of the 
District of Columbia authority over the jurisdiction and organization 
of the local D.C. courts. The 1973 Home Rule Act (HRA) expressly 
prohibits D.C. from enacting any law with respect to any provision of 
the D.C. Code title that relates to the local D.C. courts. Congress can 
correct this injustice to the District's tax paying residents by 
amending the HRA, even before the District becomes the 51st state.
  Forty-six years after passage of the HRA, matters involving the D.C. 
courts almost never come to Congress, so Congress knows virtually 
nothing about the District's courts--and could not care less. 
Notwithstanding the importance of D.C.'s courts to District residents, 
the D.C. Council, which is the repository of knowledge and experience 
for the District's criminal and civil justice systems and the body 
accountable to our residents, is irresponsibly left on the sidelines 
while Congress remains the sole entity to correct flaws in the 
District's courts.
  Under the HRA, the D.C. Council has no authority to ``enact any act, 
resolution, or rule with respect to any provision of title 11 of the 
District of Columbia Code (relating to organization and jurisdiction of 
the District of Columbia courts).'' Matters in title 11 are limited 
primarily to rules of criminal and civil procedure, court 
administration, the number of authorized judges, the branches of the 
courts, the rules of jury service and admission to the bar. Our bill 
would strike this limitation on the D.C. Council's authority.
  The District has never had authority over its local courts, even when 
it was responsible for paying for their operations. Under the National 
Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, the 
federal government assumed the costs for several state-level functions, 
including the courts because it alone has jurisdiction over these 
courts. This bill, an important first step, would not change the 
courts' funding. This bill also would not affect the authority of the 
President to nominate, or the Senate to confirm, local D.C. judges, 
which has been within their purview since the creation of the modern 
local court system in 1970.
  This bill is an important step to increase democratic self-government 
for the District. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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