[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 21 (Thursday, February 10, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E193]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY 
                       ESTABLISHMENT ACT OF 2011

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, February 10, 2011

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I introduce the sixth in our series 
of bills, ``Free and Equal D.C.,'' to give District of Columbia 
residents the self-government and democracy enjoyed by other American 
citizens. The bill, the District of Columbia District Attorney 
Establishment Act of 2011, would establish the Office of the District 
Attorney for the District of Columbia, headed by a district attorney 
elected by D.C. residents, to prosecute the local criminal laws of the 
District, now handled by the U.S. Attorney for the District of 
Columbia, a federal official. The bill effectuates a 2002 advisory 
referendum, approved by 82 percent of D.C. voters, on the creation of 
an office of the district attorney, headed by a locally elected 
district attorney.
  There is no law enforcement issue of greater importance to D.C. 
residents, or on which they have less say here, than the prosecution of 
local crimes. A U.S. attorney has no business prosecuting the local 
criminal laws of a jurisdiction, an anomaly from the past that is out 
of place in 21st century home-rule D.C. The goal of the legislation is 
to put the District of Columbia on par with every other local 
jurisdiction in attention to its local criminal laws. Under the bill, 
the locally. elected district attorney would become the city's chief 
legal officer. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia would 
continue to handle federal matters, like the other U.S. attorneys in 
our country. As presently constituted, the U.S. Attorney's Office for 
the District of Columbia is the largest in the country, only because it 
serves as the local city prosecutor. The U.S. Attorney 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.
  Amending the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to create a local 
district attorney would be an important development toward our goal of 
achieving true self-government. I urge my colleagues to support this 
important measure.

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