Norton Applauds D.C. Lawsuit Against Trump Administration, Highlights D.C. Leadership’s United Resistance Against Unprecedented Attacks on Home Rule
On the same day D.C. sues Trump Administration, Norton introduces legislation to terminate the unlawful federalization of MPD with her colleagues in Congress.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After D.C. sued the Trump Administration over its unlawful federalization of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) applauded the District’s assertion of its own rights in the court system and highlighted the united resistance D.C. is mounting against the Trump Administration’s unlawful and unprecedented attacks on home rule.
“I applaud D.C. Attorney General Schwalb for taking legal action to end the president’s unlawful attempt to take control of MPD,” Norton said. “The Home Rule Act permits the president to direct D.C.'s mayor to provide the 'services' of MPD for 'federal purposes' when ‘an emergency nature exists,’ not to replace D.C.'s police chief with a federal political appointee and certainly not to supplant D.C.'s decisions on how to enforce its own local laws with the Administration's directives. I’ve said repeatedly that the president’s actions are unlawful. I can attest the District has an excellent case against the unprecedented actions taken by the president, and I fully support D.C.’s defense of its own rights under the law.
“On the same day D.C. is asserting its rights in court, I introduced legislation with my colleagues in Congress to end the unlawful federalization of MPD. D.C. has both the moral and the legal right to govern its own local affairs, including controlling the police force that it pays for out of its own local tax dollars. District leaders are united in our cause and using every tool at our disposal to end the egregious, unprecedented, and unlawful attempt to take over MPD.”
In their resolution, Norton and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-CA), and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) cited President Trump’s failure to identify any special conditions of an emergency nature that require the federalization of the MPD even for a specific purpose. Violent crime in D.C. is at a more than 30-year low, having decreased 26% compared to the same time period last year.
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