I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2651 
To provide for the retrocession of the District of Columbia to Maryland, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 19, 2021 
Mr. GOHMERT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight 
and 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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