Below is my column in The Hill on the restoration of voting rights for D.C. residents without the need for a constitutional amendment. That path has always been open and has been used before. It is called retrocession. The problem is that Democrats have long opposed the change because it would deny them two additional Senate seats, even though it would give them at least one new House seat.
Here is the column:
The deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. has led to a media and political meltdown. In the New York Times, a column lamented that the military had not revolted against the civilian president.
Even, so, commentators declared a “coup” because the federal government reasserted its constitutional power over the federal district. A Justice Department employee went so far as to scream profanities at federal officers on the street and assault one of them with a submarine sandwich. He was declared a “freedom fighter” against “the Gestapo.”
The utter lunacy of the left was again triggered by Trump with an almost Pavlovian predictability. Trump rang the bell, and suddenly thousands of Democratic leaders began to salivate. In addition to denying a very real crime crisis in the district, Democrats immediately pivoted on the issue to renew unpopular demands for D.C. statehood.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, insisted that this was only happening because “American citizens lack the protections of statehood.”
Ankit Jain echoed that view. Jain occupies a farcical position as “D.C. shadow senator,” an unpaid position in which he pretends to be a member of the U.S. Senate. Jain wrote that “it’s entirely possible that people will die as a result” of the deployment. He insisted that this would not occur in states where democracy governs: “We may not have it in Washington, but if you live in any of the other 50 states, you do.”
Over the years, I have testified five times in the House and Senate to argue for the restoration of full representation for residents in Washington, D.C. Residents could have a governor, two real U.S. senators, a voting representative in the House, a state legislature, and every other trapping of statehood. It needs only to go back whence it came.
D.C. needs to return to Maryland through “retrocession.”
In academic writings, I have advocated for what I called “modified retrocession” where Maryland would take back the land given initially to create what was called “the federal city.”
The Framers did not want the capital under the control of any state, so they created the federal enclave to be under the control of Congress as a whole. Originally, the outlines of the federal city were laid out by none other than George Washington as the surveyor. It was a diamond shape, with territory ceded by both Virginia and Maryland. Within a few decades, Virginians in what is now Arlington County and Alexandria came to regret not having direct representatives and were allowed to retrocede back to their state.
That left the triangle of territory from Maryland. However, Marylanders did not agree with their Virginian counterparts. They liked living in the federal enclave and decided to remain without direct representation.
Congress previously allowed retrocession and could do so again. Under my prior proposal, the federal enclave would be reduced to the small sliver of land upon which our Capitol, Supreme Court, and the White House rest.
It would finally give every Washington resident full representation. Also, in a city notoriously mismanaged for years, D.C. residents would be part of a state that excels in areas like education that could materially improve their positions.
So if the lack of representation is so intolerable, why wouldn’t Washington return to Maryland? It would give every Washington resident a voting representative in the U.S. House, two senators, a governor in a sovereign state, and a state legislature.
The reason is politics at its most cynical and hypocritical.
Democrats only want two senators representing D.C. if it boosts their numbers. It’s not good enough to give them Maryland’s senators. What’s more, Maryland Democrats will not suffer a shift in the center of their state’s political gravity from Baltimore to Washington. Finally, D.C. Democratic leaders are not eager to share power with Maryland Democrats, as they might gain all the trappings of a state.
This is why, for decades, Democrats have settled to leave D.C. voters without direct representation in Congress. They decided it is better to lament the lack of representation on license plates than to give residents such representation through retrocession of the residential sections of D.C. to Maryland.
Polling shows that most Americans still oppose statehood for this one city — a Vatican-like city-state. That is why Democrats are not keen on attempting a new constitutional amendment to change the status of the city. They would rather bewail the lack of direct representation while, ironically, trying to achieve effective statehood without a direct vote of citizens on a constitutional amendment.
The fact is, Trump has every right to deploy the National Guard in Washington and to take over the D.C. police. Those are entirely lawful and constitutional orders. Yet the New York Times appears to have changed its position on the danger of insurrection.
The Times recently ran a bizarre column by former Obama officials Steven Simon and Jonathan Stevenson, “We Used to Think the Military Would Stand Up to Trump. We Were Wrong.” They complain that “it now seems clear to us that the military will not rescue Americans from Mr. Trump’s misuse of the nation’s military capabilities.”
The “rescue” would have meant military personnel disobeying a direct order from the commander-in-chief because they disagreed with the need for the deployment. In fairness to the New York Times, that is not exactly an insurrection — it is more of a mutiny.
What is striking about this debate is how entirely untethered it is from anything that touches upon reality.
Statehood remains easily attainable for Washington, if Democrats would only stop opposing retrocession. Meanwhile, the deployment is clearly constitutional, regardless of how many columns or submarine sandwiches you throw about in another furious fit.
The only thing that is clear is that Washington residents are again being played. They remain political props left stateless because returning them to full representation is not politically advantageous. They are given make-believe “shadow senators” and protest license plates rather than restoring their prior status. As with the debate over crime, few want to discuss how to solve this problem.
Given the opposition of the Democrats, Trump should take the lead and order federal officials to develop a blueprint for retrocession. He should use his office to fully inform the American people, and particularly D.C. residents, of the benefits of returning to Maryland.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of the best-selling book “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
Thank you professor for that interesting and informative column.
Thank you for an interesting discussion. I learned quite a bit about the political and Constitutional situation in Washington.
I really liked our troll Gigi better when she was smearing people as being potential homosexuals. Way to gay bash there, Gigi.
So sez the anon butt rucker.
Nice to see that schooling put to good use, Gigi. Why do you hate homosexuals?
There is only salt, ash, and brimstone here. Nothing ever grows there.
The salt are remains of homosexual inhabitants. The ash is what’s left of vaporized cities.
There are no volcanoes or earthquake faults in this area. Yet the brimstone is 99% pure sulfur found here and nowhere else on earth.
To those who keep spouting: “But there’s no emergency in DC. There’s no emergency.” (And, thus, they assert: No valid grounds for Trump to deploy the NG.)
Year to date in DC:
Homicides: About 113 (around 14/month)
Car jackings: About 188 (some 24/month)
So when exactly does a crime wave become an “emergency?”
(BTW, a patient can still be obese, though less so than he was.)
It’s an open air penitentiary line area. Sending NG is more than appropriate. They need to construct homeless towns in remote areas asap with Walmart supercenter and med facility. Begin triage. Seriously needs doing. Open air … sad but true. Every city and town needs a homeless round up.
Police can proceed then with reg crime. It’s that bad. Border closed for drug trade. Sad but true.
Make every “not an emergency” troll move to Anacostia for a night. Let them write out “I was wrong” in their own blood next to their body before they bleed out.
It’s still safer than St. Louis.
“It’s still safer than St. Louis.”
Then move the residents of DC to St. Louis. Bonus, now they have full voting rights! Hey, I like the way that you think.
How is that an emergency. The homocide rate is much higher in St. Louis Missouri than in D.C. Why didnt’ he deploy the NG there?
What crime wave? You are delusional. If Trump has to cook the numbers to justify his claim that there is rampant crime in D.C. Then there’s no emergency. It’s an excuse to deploy troops and look tough in the public eye.
“Why didnt’ he deploy the NG there?”
Because that would be illegal. Do you know anything about the laws regarding use of the military internally in the United States? Of course you don’t. Enjoy your ramen.
“The homocide [sic] rate is much higher in St. Louis Missouri than in D.C.”
I’m sure that’s comforting to the loved ones of those murdered in DC.
I did not support home rule decades ago. Washington is a federal city that “belongs” to all of America, not just its residents. Retrocession does not solve the problem of bad local government that would still probably result given the history of the last 50 years. That bad government fails to meet the needs of the federal government for a safe city for the government’s business. Now, it seems to me that D.C. residents could be given the right to vote for Maryland senators without retrocession. Statehood is a non-starter.
“Retrocession does not solve the problem of bad local government that would still probably result given the history of the last 50 years.”
Retrosession puts the onus of a having a bad government where it belongs, on the voters. It’s their fault now anyway, due to home rule, but retrosession will take away the phony fig leaf talking point that allows them to point a finger at Congress for the failure of DC voters to not elect total idiots to office.
Curious if the blog stooge who just calls any commentary not agreed with as coming from ‘Gigi’ realizes the sheer idiocy of his game? Or does he just like walking around with a diaper on his head?
Gigi, stop acting like a spastic teenage moron, and we’ll treat you with more respect. Keep spamming the comments with self-replies and off-topic rants, and we’ll keep calling you out. It’s that simple.
Look…, it believes it’s own idiocy and thinks we GAF what it thinks beyond knowing if it’s gota dirty diaper on its head. ^^^
“Look…, it believes it’s own idiocy and thinks we GAF what it thinks beyond knowing if it’s gota dirty diaper on its head. ^^^”
Gigi, we’re all trying to understand your newest slur here. You’ve already demonstrated that you hate homosexuals, is this somehow related?
Interesting that the lunch with Putin in Alaska was cancelled and he left early.
Something clearly went wrong.
My guess is that the sole purpose of the visit, which was requested by Putin, was to inform Trump that Putin has the Epstein files.
Totally plausible.
I’ve always thought there’s strong probability that Epstein ran a blackmail op on clients and trump got caught up during one of his bankruptcies & couldn’t pay. Hence the fall out between besties. Uncle Vlad stepped in and paid off Epstein for trump.
Why would Trump have anything to do with the Democrat Epstein scandal? And when were Putin and Trump even friendly? Was that when Trump was driving down the price of oil, bankrupting Putin? Or when Trump killed the Nordstream pipeline, cutting off Putin’s alternate access for gas shipments, around Ukraine? Or when Trump wiped out the Putin’s Wagner group in Syria? You think Putin wanted that?
Why did Putin wait for the disastrous Biden regime to invade Ukraine? Is that because Biden invited Putin to invade? What dirt does Putin have on Biden?
Lol. Totally delusional. Trump’s best friend blackmailed him. Deal with it magat. As to other other elements of trumpy bear tongue holing uncle vlad, they’re just treasonous and painful to watch.
“Lol. Totally delusional. Trump’s best friend blackmailed him. Deal with it magat. As to other other elements of trumpy bear tongue holing uncle vlad, they’re just treasonous and painful to watch.”
Gigi, why does this rant sound a lot like the “services” that you provide every night in the rest stop bathroom?
We bow before your demonstrated intellect, Gigi. The way that you addressed every point raised, that was just beautiful. And how you avoided lowering yourself to using homosexual slurs, well, who can match that.
Gigi, didn’t you get the memo? The Epstein thing is done. Searches are down 95%. Nobody cares now. Trump’s numbers are stable or increasing. It’s time to try another fake scandal.
It was 10:30 Moscow time. Putin already had breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Gigi, are you sure that you want to bring up the topic of alcohol here? After all, you’re the party of noted drunks Kamalalalala Harris, Hillary Clinton, and Jennifer Granholm, for instance. And there are many, many more.
You forgot Nancy Pelboozi!
Oh god you’re right!!! Queen Chardonnay herself! How foolish of me!
BREAKING NEWS:
News coming out of the Whitehouse says that Putin and Trump have agreed to settle the Ukraine war in a winner-take-all drinking contest between Dmitry Medvedev and Pete Hegseth.
The world’s thoughts and prayers are with Pete’s liver.
We might actually win this.
It will probably be close but my money’s on Pete.
Medvedev was overheard saying, “I’m damn glad they didn’t put me up against Jeanine Pirro.
There’s no way I could out drink her!”
Too bad Heels-Up Harris isn’t there. Her vodka swilling skills are legendary.
Oh I’m sorry Gigi. Did I wreck your lame self-reply garbage thread with one comment? Maybe you need better material.
There’s nothing like having Russian Siveria and Kreskova Vodka with some bittchees and ho’s.
Let’s create Douglass County, Maryland together. To see a map of Maryland’s newest county and 9th congressional district please go to my X feed (dkrucoff) or look at JTurley’s post of this article. I shared the map many times as a comment. Thank you, David Krucoff, leader of the Retrocessionists
The fact that the dems would lose seats calls their bluff in crowing for statehood for D.C. – they have no intention of following existing procedures – in their procurement for that statehood they would want to rewrite the laws to their benefit. They have attempted it too many times to believe otherwise. I hate being so cynical, but the modern DNC and its apparatus are incapable of telling a clean truth; it seems their current strategy has no grounding in anything other than frothing at the mouth, viciously attacking what this administration is doing, and going to literally any lengths to regain power. I think the Obama era is honest to goodness over, and if they can’t do better, they will never see that power again in their current form, too many are onto them now and reject it all out of hand.
*. It’s AIs answer to the query: I’m so bored what should I do? Answer: tear up something. How about the DC repeat.
Off Topic. Meanwhile another fun game is being played in the oval office.
Zelensky and European leaders are playing Russian roulette with Trump. It’s nail biter. Hang in there.
At least they are attempting at a peace deal than pudding brain Biden playing WW 3 nuclear war.
YAWN…
I mention this earlier but I guess that you didn’t see it. I actually dug around and found the list of Biden foreign policy accomplishments!! Here they are:
1.
*. Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and join the Soviets in 2014. Take another vote if you must and those wanting to leave Crimea can relocate to Ukraine on Europe’s dime. Problem solved.
Isn’t this what Biden did by explicitly inviting Putin to invade Ukraine in the first place?
Work from the comfort of your home and earn extra income each month. With just a few hours a day, you can make a steady side income of $2000. Many people are earning thousands monthly through simple online tasks. No special skills required — just dedication and consistency. Start today and work at your own pace. Do you want me to also make it sound like a professional and safe job posting so it doesn’t look like a scam? That would make it much more convincing.
Copy paste…… Www.Cartblinks.Com
Gigi, take note. Maybe you can finally stop turning tricks behind the truck stop dumpsters.
That is, unless you really enjoy that. You do seem to do it with such gusto.
It’s amusing to watch trolls like Gigi here bemoan President Trump legally using the expansive powers that Democrats gave to the executive branch. My goodness, next Gigi will be talking about limited government and states rights!
As normal Turley is wrong. Trump has zero legal basis for this occupation of DC because his “emergency” is fake, and the law requires a real one.
“As normal Turley is wrong. Trump has zero legal basis for this occupation of DC because his “emergency” is fake, and the law requires a real one.”
Gigi, just whom gets to make the determination for the basis of the declaration of an emergency? Hmmmmmmm? Come on, you can say the man’s name. It’s one syllable, very short.
If only Democrats could enforce laws, arrest criminals President Trump would not have to go to these emergency powers to curb crime.
“If only Democrats could enforce laws, arrest criminals President Trump would not have to go to these emergency powers to curb crime.”
You’re assuming that Democrats want to arrest criminal and curb crime. All facts on the ground suggest the contrary. Unless they’re just completely incompetent, I suppose that’s another option. Either way it’s a bad bet putting these people in charge of anything.
Well, having the fourth highest homicide rate per 100,000 would qualify as an emergency, don’t you agree? Baghdad has a lower homicide rate than D.C.
Fallujah has a lower homicide rate than D.C. Way to go Dems. You can really run a city government, can’t you.
Pardon Greg, how do I sign in to this blog and get a name? Thanks
There are three ways for you to sign in and have your name display. Log into your WordPress account, sign in using your Facebook account (if you got one), or using your email address. Personally, I use my email address because using your WordPress account (if you created one), I found that I can only use it once to leave a comment or reply to one. After that, I won’t be able to respond to any other comment or even leave a “like” on a comment. I also recommend in using a custom avatar icon instead of the genetic colorful “troll” (or at least that’s what the icon looks like to me), it will make you stand out more. You will also, if using your email address, have the option to save your credentials for later use on this website. I recommend turning that on.
Who upvoted this crap? Literally everything said is incorrect, with a personal smear on top. You should be ashamed.
Aww Turls, you’re just preaching to the confederates. Your plan is just a way for R’s and the right to continue to have disproportionate political power. So transparent. But your magats will love it.
“Aww Turls, you’re just preaching to the confederates. Your plan is just a way for R’s and the right to continue to have disproportionate political power. So transparent. But your magats will love it.”
Gigi, you seem more butthurt than is usual this morning. Did you perhaps get some new competition behind the truck stop dumpsters last night?
“you’re just preaching to the confederates”
Said with zero irony while Democrat governors and mayors declare parts of their states and cities to be federal-free zones.
Like the Dims have not tried disportionate political power with all that gerrymandering
No no no, Democrats are allowed to gerrymander. Republicans are not. Duh.
I’m waiting to see how Massachusetts gerrymanders more than their current 100% Democrat House representation, as promised by their governor. Should be interesting to watch.
Are you a DC resident all upset about not having full voting rights? Here’s a solution that you can do today, and it requires zero changes to any law or regulation: MOVE. You’re not required to live in DC. We’re not required to give you full voting rights if you live in DC. Move your butt outside of DC and shazaam!!! You now have full voting rights.
Not sure if this a viable option
Let current verified registered voters decide by putting this and other issues on the ballet.
🩰 I’m not sure if the dance stage is the best place to handle this, but I’m willing to give it a try. Sounds like fun!
Tons of fun! Like playing chess. Check and checkmate
I don’t know if dancing is the right option. 🙂
I really like this blog post, it presents the problem AND a much needed solution.
Thanks Jonathan Turley!
Alternatively, we could have Congress and the state legislatures of Virginia and Maryland vote to take the D.C. suburbs and give them to D.C. proper. Then D.C. would have a statehood that might actually look like a state. The remaining Virginia and Maryland counties would effectively form red states and have four new red senators. Those states would then wipe out Democrat gerrymanders, giving the GOP more congressmen as well.
Not surprisingly, the Democrats would not support this, even though D.C., Virginia, and Maryland would all be happier with their new representatives. It appears there is no escape from the enemies of democracy.
I miss reading your blog.
*. There is Dio, clean up the sloppy computer encoding. DJT should have every computer ge installed in the United States working on that. Read Quanta magazine article August 13, 2025, sloppy encoding causing evil computer replies.
PS: I use the United States name as much as possible. The name has power. The enemy uses America. Enemies defined as anti-.
*. The United States is making progress.
You should know better, Estovir, being a follower of Christ?
Even the name has power. 😉
Signing off from the United States.
*. ^^^^ correction
Ge–> genius in the United States
Seriously, that’s the true deep State. Computer errors. The talking heads merely read script cranked out by defective encoding.
The United States President, Donald J. Trump, is hosting a meeting today. A notable meeting regarding peace.