Why is D. C. Statehood Act (H.R. 51) Unconstitutional?

Democrats claim that the Republican Party is the fundamental obstacle to enactment of H.R. 51. Not so!

The Department of Justice in Democratic and Republican administrations including those of John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan all submitted memoranda to Congress concluding that statehood for the District of Columbia could not be achieved by legislation, but required a fundamental rewriting and amendment of the U. S. Constitution. 

1)  Not only would statehood require amending the Constitution, but the 23rd Amendment would have to be repealed as well.

2) Further reducing the size of the District of Columbia and creating a smaller seat of government would be vulnerable to judicial review, considering a Supreme Court opinion in the 1870’s that the retrocession of Alexandria to Virginia in 1846 was probably unconstitutional, cited as an argument of merit.

3) Statehood would undermine the intent of the drafters of the Constitution that the seat of government be a permanent entity and that it be large enough to serve as the location of a capital city having substantial area and population.

4) Many diplomatic treaties require that property be available at the seat of government for embassies, “ an impossible requirement in the truncated seat of government proposed in H.R. 51.

5) Numerous additional constitutional issues are detailed in these memoranda which would also be subject to many years of litigation.

The first comprehensive memorandum discussing the constitutional issues of District of Columbia retrocession and related statehood proposals was submitted to Congress by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1963. Kennedy made the case that the framers of the Constitution attached fundamental importance to the establishment of a permanent seat for the national government which was not and could not ever be under the control of any state. 

Note: Copies of U. S. Department of Justice memoranda on District of Columbia statehood are available for research at the New Columbia Archives.