Norton Introduces Bill for an Elected DC District Attorney (11/3/09)

Norton Introduces Bill for an Elected D.C. District Attorney in Her Continued Quest for Full Citizenship Rights for D.C. Residents

November 3, 2009

Washington, DC-Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), who recently recommended to President Barack Obama a candidate for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, which is pending at the White House, today introduced a bill that would allow District residents to elect their own District Attorney (D.A.). Norton's bill, the District of Columbia District Attorney Establishment Act of 2009, is one of the her "Free and Equal D.C." series of bills, part of her ongoing pursuit of full autonomy for the District of Columbia.

"We're happy to help the president select the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. But for local crimes, we need a D.A. elected directly by the people of this city, just as other jurisdictions select their own chief law enforcement officials," Norton said.

Congresswoman Norton's "Free and Equal D.C." series includes the recently-passed Hatch Act, giving District officials authority, as in other states, to enact their own local Hatch Act and her D.C. Coin Act, which resulted in a D.C. quarter, featuring Duke Ellington, being introduced into national circulation this year. Among other bills in the "Free and Equal D.C." series are the D.C. Budget Autonomy Act and the D.C. Legislative Autonomy Act, which Norton introduced earlier this year.

The Congresswoman was granted senatorial courtesy by Obama, but she worked with her Federal Law Enforcement Nominating Commission to recommend a candidate for U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who is responsive to local needs. She continues to press for an elected D.A. to give District residents themselves "direct influence on an officer as important as other elected officials."

In November 2002, District voters overwhelmingly (by 82 percent) approved a locally elected D.A. on a referendum. Subsequently, the D.C. City Council approved legislation authorizing the Home Rule Act to be amended accordingly. However, establishing that position will require an Act of Congress and presidential approval due to the District's unique political status.

During the Clinton administration, Norton had senatorial courtesy for the District of Columbia for the first time in the city's history, and she recommended the city's first African American U.S. Attorney, Eric H. Holder, Jr., who earlier this year became the nation's first African American U.S. Attorney General. Another Norton appointee, Wilma A. Lewis, became the first woman U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

This year, Obama granted the Congresswoman the same senatorial courtesy, which also includes authority to recommend judges for U.S. District Court. Norton has just recommended three judicial candidates and yesterday advertised another vacancy for a judgeship. Norton also recommended former D.C. Police Chief Isaac Fulwood for chair of the U.S. Parole Commission. Fulwood was appointed and is now serving as chair of the Commission.

A copy of Norton's introductory statement is as follows:

Statement of

Eleanor Holmes Norton

On the Introduction of the

District of Columbia District Attorney Establishment Act of 2009

November 3, 2009

Madam Speaker, today I introduce the District of Columbia District Attorney Establishment Act of 2009, continuing a series of bills that I will introduce this session to ensure a continuation of the process of the transition to full democracy and self-government for the residents of the District of Columbia. This bill is the seventh in our "Free and Equal D.C." series of bills to eliminate anti-Home Rule legislation and to remedy obsolete or inappropriate congressional laws to the local affairs of the District of Columbia or denials of federal benefits or recognition routinely granted to other jurisdictions.

This bill would establish an Office of District Attorney for the District of Columbia, to be headed by a district attorney elected by D.C. residents. This bill would effectuate the November 2002 referendum in which D.C. voters overwhelmingly (82 percent) approved a locally elected District Attorney.

This important legislation is designed to put the District of Columbia on par with every other local jurisdiction in the country by allowing D.C. residents to elect an independent district attorney to prosecute local criminal and civil matters now handled by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, a federal official. Under this bill, the new, locally elected district attorney would become the city's chief legal officer. The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia would remain and, like other U.S. Attorneys' offices in the U.S., would handle only the federal matters under its jurisdiction. As presently constituted, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District is the largest in the country only because it serves mainly as the local city prosecutor. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia needs to be freed up to handle national security and other vital federal cases, particularly in the post-9/11 nation's capital.

There is no law enforcement issue of greater importance to our residents, or on which we have less say, than the prosecution of local crimes here.A U.S. Attorney has no business in the local criminal affairs of a local jurisdiction. This bill simply would make the District's prosecutor accountable to the people by electing him or her, as elsewhere in the nation.

In addition to issues of democracy and self-government, such as congressional voting rights and legislative and budget autonomy, that District residents are entitled to as American citizens, residents are determined to achieve each and every other element of home rule. Amending the District's Home Rule Act to create a local district attorney position would be an important development toward our goal of achieving true self-government. I urge my colleagues to support this important measure.