District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, right, presents House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Md., left, with a flag with 51 stars on it during a news conference on D.C. statehood on Capitol Hill, Tuesday, June 16, 2020, in Washington. Hoyer will hold a vote on D.C. statehood on July 26. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Make Washington, D.C., the 51st State By Spectrum News Staff Nationwide PUBLISHED 11:20 AM ET Jan. 27, 2021 PUBLISHED 11:20 AM EST Jan. 27, 2021
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Delaware’s Sen. Tom Carper and a group of Senate Democrats have introduced legislation to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state.
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Caption Kareemah Hanifa, left, stands with a patron at her Marietta hair salon in 2019. In addition to running her business, Hanifa advocates for others like herself who, long after serving their sentences, still shoulder the burden of their criminal histories. Credit: Courtesy of Kareemah Hanifa
Kareemah Hanifa is an activist, an entrepreneur, and a believer in second chances. She is one of 4.2 million Georgia citizens with a criminal record, having served a 26-year-long sentence from the age of 15 to 41.
Two years ago, Hanifa went to take her State Board Cosmetology Exam at Cobb Galleria with chains on her hands and feet. As she walked through the lobby, the other test-takers stared at her.
More people live in Washington, D.C., than in either Vermont or Wyoming, but they have no governor, no voting representation in Congress, and only limited local authority. The reason is simple: D.C. isn’t a state. But should it be? That’s where things get a bit more complicated.
A Safe Space for Federal Government
Washington, D.C., was designed to be stateless from the start. The framers included the notion of an independent capital “not exceeding ten Miles square“ in Article I of the Constitution, and James Madison argued in Federalist 43 for “The indispensable necessity of complete authority at the seat of government,” which he deemed critical to avoiding the federal government’s “dependence . on the State.”