Introduction of the District of Columbia Courts Home Rule Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the District of Columbia Courts Home Rule Act. This bill would give the Council of the District of Columbia authority over the jurisdiction and organization of the local D.C. courts. The 1973 Home Rule Act (HRA) expressly prohibits D.C. from enacting any law with respect to any provision of the D.C. Code title that relates to these matters.

Forty-five years after the passage of the HRA, matters involving the D.C. courts almost never come to Congress, so Congress knows almost nothing about the District's courts. Notwithstanding the importance of D.C.'s courts to District residents, the D.C. Council, which is the repository of knowledge and experience for the District's criminal and civil justice systems and the accountable body to our residents, is irresponsibly left on the sidelines while Congress remains the sole entity to correct flaws in the District's courts.

Under the HRA, the D.C. Council has no authority to ``enact any act, resolution, or rule with respect to any provision of title 11 of the District of Columbia Code (relating to organization and jurisdiction of the District of Columbia courts).'' Matters in title 11 include rules of criminal and civil procedure, court administration, the number of authorized judges, the branches of the courts, the rules of jury service and admission to the bar. The bill would strike this limitation on the D.C. Council's authority.

The District has never had authority over its local courts, even when it was responsible for paying for their operations. Under the National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, the federal government assumed the costs for several state-level functions, including the courts. This bill would not affect the authority of the President to nominate, or the Senate to confirm, local judges.

This is an important step to increase home rule for the District, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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