Thomas Colby, law professor at The George Washington University Law School
Justin Hansford, Law Professor at Howard University Law School
Explaining the road to statehood
What does the Constitution say about statehood?
The Constitution grants general state-creation powers to Congress in Article IV, Section 3, under what s called the admissions clause:
“New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new state shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress, it reads.
Is DC statehood constitutional? What is needed for DC statehood? newscentermaine.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newscentermaine.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Don t show me this message again✕
The Stars and Stripes hangs over Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington DC – with an extra star symbolising the ambition of making the District of Columbia the 51st state of the USA (AFP via Getty Images)
To many, the question of whether the nation’s capital should be a state was asked, answered and enshrined in the Constitution more than 200 years ago.
Regardless, the debate will rage for as long as it is unlikely that a president signs into law the 51st star amid America’s red and white stripes.
The White House has formally supported legislation that would establish Washington DC as the “Douglas Commonwealth”, the nation’s first new state since Alaska and Hawaii joined the union in 1959.