[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 162 (Tuesday, November 3, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY 
                       ESTABLISHMENT ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 3, 2009

  Ms. NORTON. 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.

                          ____________________