Evening star., 1938-01-23
Plans to Amend Constitution
For Benefit of District.

t1ROBABLY at no time in the
history of the District of
Columbia were there as many pro-
posals pending in Congress to
amend the Constitution of the
United States for the benefit of the
District of Columbia as now. For a
number of years there has been
introduced in each Congress the
national representation amendment
sponsored by the Citizens Joint
Committee on National Represen-
tation for the District of Columbia.
The form of this proposed amend
ment has undergone little change
since it was favorably reported by
the Senate Committee on the Dis
trict of Columbia in 1922.
1t would empower Congress to
grant the District the right to
elect Representatives in the House
IN proportion to the population;
one or two Senators, as Congress
may determine, or such other rep
resentation in the Senate as Con-
gress may provide for; and presi-
dental electors of equal number to
their aggregate representation in
the House and Senate or as Con-
gress may provide for. This amend
ment would also give the residents
of the District the status of citi-
zens of a State for the purpose Of
suing and being sued in the courts
OF the United States under the
provisions of Article III. section 2.
The flexible provision as to rep
resentation in the Senate by one or
two Senators or such other repre-
sentation as Congress may provide
for was drafted by the late Senator
Wesley l.. Jones, of Washington,
to meet. the objections of certain
Senators to equal representation
or any voting representation Of the
District in the Senate. It was
thought that if the amendment
could go into the Constitution in
that form it would be possible at a
later date for Congress to increase
the representation in the Senate,
without the necessity of additional
amendment.
The permissive form of the en-
tire amendment is intended to give
the same power to Congress to per-
init the District voting representa-
tion in the Congress as it possesses
to admit new States to the Union.
This is the Capper-N Norton joint
resolution.
Recently q new form OF amend
ment is proposed in identical joint
resolutions introduced in the House
by Representative Jennings Ran
dolph of West Virginia and in the
Senate by Senator James Hamilton
Lewis of Illinois. The new Joint
resolution proposes an amendment
to the Constitution to provide for a
Republican form of government
and representation in the Congress
for the District of Columbia.
1t provides Congress shall have
power to establish q republican
form of government for the Dis
trict. The government so estab-
lished shall have such legislative,
executive and judicial officers, to be
selected in such manner and they to
have such legislative, executive and
judicial powers as Congress may by
law provide. The provisions for
representation in the House are the
same as in the Capper-Norton
resolution. The provision regarding
representation in the Senate and
among the presidential electors
does not include the Jones plan
for meeting some senatorial objec-
tions. This proposal also omits the
provision for giving residents of
the District the same rights before
the United States courts, through
out the country, as possessed by
the citizens of a State.
These resolutions have been re-
ferred to the committees on the
judiciary in the respective houses
and hearings are promised in the
near flltllre