District of Columbia

Examples of District of Columbia in the following topics:

• The 23rd Amendment

  • The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution permits citizens in the District of Columbia to vote for Electors for President and Vice President.
  • The 23rd Amendment would have been repealed by the District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment, which proposed to give the District full representation in the United States Congress, full representation in the Electoral College system, and full participation in the process by which the U.S.
  • The District constituting the seat of Government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct:
  • A number of electors of President and Vice President equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State, but in no event more than the least populous State; they shall be in addition to those appointed by the States, but they shall be considered, for the purposes of the election of President and Vice President, to be electors appointed by a State; and they shall meet in the District and perform such duties as provided by the twelfth article of amendment.
  • State the right extended to residents of the District of Columbia by the 23rd Amendment

• Devolution

  • The District of Columbia in the Unites States offers an illustration of devolved government.
  • However, the broad range of powers reserved for the 50 states cannot be voided by any act of U.S. federal government.
  • The District of Columbia is constitutionally under the control of the United States Congress, which created the current District government.
  • Any law passed by District legislature can be nullified by Congressional action.
  • Indeed, the District government itself could be significantly altered by a simple majority vote in Congress.

• The House and the Senate: Differences in Responsibilities and Representation

  • The Senate and House are further differentiated by term lengths and the number of districts represented.
  • The District of Columbia and all other territories (including territories, protectorates, etc.) are not entitled to representation in either House of the Congress.
  • The District of Columbia elects two shadow senators, but they are officials of the D.C. city government and not members of the U.S.
  • The Constitution does not provide for the representation of the District of Columbia or territories.
  • The District of Columbia and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S.

• The Powers of Local Government

  • Powers of local governments are defined by state rather than federal law, and states have adopted a variety of systems of local government.
  • Local government in the United States is structured in accordance with the laws of the individual states, territories and the District of Columbia.
  • The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution makes local government a matter of state rather than federal law, with special cases for territories and the District of Columbia.
  • The states have adopted a wide variety of systems of local government.
  • A number of independent cities operate under a municipal government that serves the functions of both city and county.

• The Powers of National Government

  • The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of Congress, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court.
  • A theoretical pillar of the United States Constitution is the idea of checks and balances between the powers and responsibilities of the three branches of American government.
  • Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government.
  • It is bicameral, comprised of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
  • The President and Vice President are elected as running mates by the Electoral College for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation in both houses of Congress.

• The 27th Amendment

  • The Twenty-seventh Amendment, adopted in 1992, prohibits any law that increases or decreases the salary of members of the Congress from taking effect until the start of the next set of terms of office for Representatives.
  • Congressional cost of living adjustments (COLAs) have been upheld against legal challenges based on this amendment.
  • Anderson, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Twenty-seventh Amendment does not affect annual COLAs.
  • No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.
  • Certification of the Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution Pg 1 of 3.

• The Judicial Branch

  • The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system.
  • Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty.
  • There is at least one judicial district for each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
  • There are eighty-nine districts in the fifty states, with a total of ninety-four districts including territories.
  • Map of the geographic boundaries of the various United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts.

• Basic Judicial Requirements

  • For most of these cases, the jurisdiction of the federal district courts is concurrent with that of the state courts.
  • Patent and copyright infringement disputes and prosecutions for federal crimes, the jurisdiction of the district courts is exclusive of that of the state courts.
  • Admission to the bar of a district court is generally granted as a matter of course to any attorney who is admitted to practice law in the state where the district court sits.
  • Many district courts also allow an attorney who has been admitted and remains an active member in good standing of any state, territory or the District of Columbia bar to become a member.
  • Several district courts require attorneys seeking admission to their bars to take an additional bar examination on federal law, including the following: the Southern District of Ohio, the Northern District of Florida, and the District of Puerto Rico.

• Congressional Districts

  • Texas currently has 32 districts, but will be adding 4 due to reapportionment as a result of the 2010 census.
  • Other states will lose districts since the number of congressional seats has been set at 435 by statute.
  • The boundaries of districts often shift with each redistricting.
  • As of the 2000 census, the average population per district is 646,946 people.
  • Montana's district has the largest number of people (905,316) and Wyoming has the fewest number of people (495,304).

• Electoral Districts

  • District magnitude is the number of representatives elected from a given district to the same legislative body.
  • Under proportional representation systems, district magnitude is an important determinant of the makeup of the elected body.
  • In the Republic of Ireland, for instance, national elections to Dáil Éireann are held using a combination of 3, 4, and 5 member districts.
  • Gerrymandering is the manipulation of electoral district boundaries for political gain.
  • Another example of Illinois gerrymandering is the 17th congressional district in the western portion of the state.