Saturday, April 21, 2007
DC voting rights and standing
The House has voted to give DC full voting rights in Congress. The bill has moved to the Senate, where passage is somewhat in doubt. And if the Senate does pass the bill, I'm not sure whether the President will sign it.
Let's just assume that this passes and is signed by President Bush. What would be the route to question the bill's constitutionality? Putting aside the question of whether this is constitutional, who would have standing to even bring a suit before the Court?
The only way I could imagine that this would be challenged is by a citizen claiming that his representation has been diluted by DC's Congressional representative (I'm not sure that Utah's additional rep - granted as a compromise - would be included in the same case). Sure it's a flimsy argument, but I don't see how any other party could gain standing to sue.
Any other ideas?
Let's just assume that this passes and is signed by President Bush. What would be the route to question the bill's constitutionality? Putting aside the question of whether this is constitutional, who would have standing to even bring a suit before the Court?
The only way I could imagine that this would be challenged is by a citizen claiming that his representation has been diluted by DC's Congressional representative (I'm not sure that Utah's additional rep - granted as a compromise - would be included in the same case). Sure it's a flimsy argument, but I don't see how any other party could gain standing to sue.
Any other ideas?
Labels: constitutional law, DC vote, standing
# posted by Paul Zummo : 9:03 AM
