I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1015 
To provide for the retrocession of the District of Columbia to Maryland, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 12, 2009 
Mr. GOHMERT (for himself, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. CULBERSON, Mr. ROHR-
ABACHER, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. CHAFFETZ, and Mr. COBLE) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Govern-
ment Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 
in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris-
diction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To provide for the retrocession of the District of Columbia 
to Maryland, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘District of Columbia- 
Maryland Reunion Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Residents of Washington, DC pay Federal 
income tax, but do not have voting members in the 
United States Congress. 
(2) Article I, section 2, clause 1 of the United 
States Constitution states that the ‘‘House of Rep-
resentatives shall be composed of members chosen 
every second year by the people of the several 
states.’’. 
(3) The Founding Fathers did not consider the 
proposed district that would become Washington, 
DC a State under the Constitution, as evidenced 
when Alexander Hamilton offered an amendment to 
the Constitution during the New York ratification to 
provide full congressional representation to Wash-
ington, DC, but the convention rejected the amend-
ment on July 22, 1788. Thomas Tredwell stated at 
the same convention that the plan for Washington, 
DC ‘‘departs from every principle of freedom’’ be-
cause it did not give residents full representation in 
Congress. 
(4) Chief Justice Marshall held in Hepburn v. 
Ellzey in 1805 that the term ‘‘states’’ in article I, 
section 2, clause 1 of the Constitution does not in-
clude Washington, DC for representation purposes. 
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(5) Seven Supreme Court Justices affirmed 
Chief Justice Marshall’s Hepburn reasoning in Na-
tional Mut. Ins. Co. of Dist. of Col. v. Tidewater 
Transfer Co. in 1949. 
(6) A Democrat-controlled Congress in 1978 at-
tempted to amend the Constitution to provide Wash-
ington, DC with full congressional representation. 
The Committee on the Judiciary of the House of 
Representatives reported the resolution and stated 
that granting congressional representation to the 
District of Columbia as it is presently constituted 
would require a constitutional amendment, because 
‘‘statutory action alone will not suffice’’. 
(7) Proposals to grant Washington, DC con-
gressional representation will inevitably be chal-
lenged in court, calling into question the validity of 
any narrowly passed legislation that a Washington, 
DC member votes on and leaving Washington, DC 
residents in a continued state of flux over their sta-
tus. 
(8) Amending the Constitution requires two- 
thirds approval by each house of Congress and rati-
fication by three-fourths of the States. In 1978, 
there was success in obtaining a favorable vote from 
two-thirds of both the House and the Senate on a 
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constitutional amendment to provide Washington, 
DC with full congressional representation, but the 
requirement for ratification by three-fourths of the 
States could not be obtained. 
(9) An alternative to a potentially lengthy and 
difficult constitutional amendment process is ceding 
Washington, DC back to Maryland, just as an area 
of 31 square miles that was originally ceded by Vir-
ginia was returned to that State by Federal legisla-
tion in 1847, thereby ensuring that the portion of 
Washington, DC in Virginia would have Senate and 
House representation. 
(10) In 1847, there was a desire to allow the 
District of Columbia land on the west side of the Po-
tomac River that was not being used by the Federal 
Government to have its own proper representation in 
Congress. 
(11) Obtaining the desired representation for 
this portion of Washington, DC would have required 
a constitutional amendment unless the land were 
given back to Virginia. 
(12) Instead of trying to pass a constitutional 
amendment, Congress in 1847 legislatively ceded 
back to Virginia from the District of Columbia the 
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non-Federal land composed of 31 square miles on 
the west side of the Potomac River. 
(13) Accordingly, the District of Columbia 
would clearly and constitutionally have 2 Senators 
and a Representative with full voting rights by 
ceding the District of Columbia to Maryland after 
Maryland’s acceptance of such retrocession, while 
maintaining the exclusive legislative authority and 
control of Congress over the National Capital Serv-
ice Area in the District of Columbia. 
SEC. 3. RETROCESSION OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA TO 
MARYLAND. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Upon the issuance of a proclama-
tion by the President under section 8 and except as pro-
vided in subsection (b), the territory ceded to Congress 
by the State of Maryland to serve as the District consti-
tuting the permanent seat of the Government of the 
United States is ceded and relinquished to the State of 
Maryland. 
(b) CONTINUATION OF FEDERAL CONTROL OVER 
NATIONAL CAPITAL SERVICE AREA.—Notwithstanding 
subsection (a), the National Capital Service Area de-
scribed in section 5 shall not be ceded and relinquished 
to the State of Maryland and shall continue to serve as 
the permanent seat of the Government of the United 
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States, and Congress shall continue to exercise exclusive 
legislative authority and control over such Area. 
SEC. 4. EFFECT ON JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS IN DISTRICT 
OF COLUMBIA. 
(a) CONTINUATION OF SUITS.—No writ, action, in-
dictment, cause, or proceeding pending in any court of the 
District of Columbia on the effective date of this Act shall 
abate as a result of the enactment of this Act, but shall 
be transferred and shall proceed within such appropriate 
court of the State of Maryland as established under the 
laws or constitution of the State of Maryland. 
(b) APPEALS.—An order or decision of any court of 
the District of Columbia for which no appeal has been filed 
as of the effective date of this Act shall be considered an 
order or decision of a court of the State of Maryland for 
purposes of appeal from and appellate review of such order 
or decision in an appropriate court of the State of Mary-
land. 
SEC. 5. NATIONAL CAPITAL SERVICE AREA. 
(a) DESCRIPTION.—The National Capital Service 
Area referred to in section 3(b) is comprised of the prin-
cipal Federal monuments, the White House, the United 
States Capitol, the United States Supreme Court Build-
ing, and the Federal executive, legislative, and judicial of-
fice buildings located adjacent to the Mall and the United 
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States Capitol (but shall not include the District Build-
ing), and is more particularly described as the territory 
located within the following boundaries: 
Beginning at the point on the present Virginia- 
District of Columbia boundary due west of the 
northernmost point of Theodore Roosevelt Island 
and running due east of the eastern shore of the Po-
tomac River; 
thence generally south along the shore at the 
mean high water mark to the northwest corner of 
the Kennedy Center; 
thence east along the north side of the Kennedy 
Center to a point where it reaches the E Street Ex-
pressway; 
thence east on the expressway to E Street 
Northwest and thence east on E Street Northwest to 
Nineteenth Street Northwest; 
thence north on Nineteenth Street Northwest to 
F Street Northwest; 
thence east on F Street Northwest to Eight-
eenth Street Northwest; 
thence south on Eighteenth Street Northwest to 
Constitution Avenue Northwest; 
thence east on Constitution Avenue to Seven-
teenth Street Northwest; 
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thence north on Seventeenth Street Northwest 
to H Street Northwest; 
thence east on H Street Northwest to Madison 
Place Northwest; 
thence south on Madison Place Northwest to 
Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest; 
thence east on Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest 
to Fifteenth Street Northwest; 
thence south on Fifteenth Street Northwest to 
Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest; 
thence southeast on Pennsylvania Avenue 
Northwest to Tenth Street Northwest; 
thence north on Tenth Street Northwest to E 
Street Northwest; 
thence east on E Street Northwest to Ninth 
Street Northwest; 
thence south on Ninth Street Northwest to 
Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest; 
thence southeast on Pennsylvania Avenue 
Northwest to John Marshall Place Northwest; 
thence north on John Marshall Place Northwest 
to C Street Northwest; 
thence east on C Street Northwest to Third 
Street Northwest; 
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thence north on Third Street Northwest to D 
Street Northwest; 
thence east on D Street Northwest to Second 
Street Northwest; 
thence south on Second Street Northwest to the 
intersection of Constitution Avenue Northwest and 
Louisiana Avenue Northwest; 
thence northeast on Louisiana Avenue North-
west to North Capitol Street; 
thence north on North Capitol Street to Massa-
chusetts Avenue Northwest; 
thence southeast on Massachusetts Avenue 
Northwest so as to encompass Union Square; 
thence following Union Square to F Street 
Northeast; 
thence east on F Street Northeast to Second 
Street Northeast; 
thence south on Second Street Northeast to D 
Street Northeast; 
thence west on D Street Northeast to First 
Street Northeast; 
thence south on First Street Northeast to C 
Street Northeast; 
thence east on C Street Northeast to Third 
Street Northeast; 
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