[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 119 (Tuesday, July 16, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FEDERAL OFFICIALS RESIDENCY 
                        REQUIREMENT EQUALITY ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 16, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the District of 
Columbia Federal Officials Residency Requirement Equality Act, which 
would amend federal law to require certain federal officials who serve 
the District of Columbia to actually live within its boundaries. In 
nearly every other jurisdiction in the United States, federal district 
court judges, federal circuit court judges, U.S. Attorneys and U.S. 
Marshals are required by federal law to reside within the jurisdictions 
where they have been appointed--but these same officials appointed to 
serve only the people of the District are not bound by these same 
requirements. Even in the territories, such officials are required to 
live in those districts, other than the U.S. Attorney and U.S. Marshal 
appointed for the Northern Mariana Islands who at the same time are 
serving in the same capacity in another district. The only other 
exceptions exist for such officials appointed to the Southern District 
of New York and the Eastern District of New York, which are the only 
districts that serve different parts of the same city. My bill would 
put the District on equal footing with almost every other jurisdiction 
by ensuring that our judges, U.S. Marshals and U.S. Attorney live among 
the residents they have been appointed to represent, in keeping with 
the federal law that applies elsewhere in the United States.
  The requirement that these federal officials ought to live in the 
jurisdictions they serve is significantly related to knowledge of the 
effect of their decisions, an important reason the residency 
requirement is enshrined in federal law. As stated in the official 
commentary to the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, ``a judge 
should not become isolated from the society in which the judge lives.'' 
The same holds true for other federal officials. My bill recognizes 
that the District deserves federal officials with the same 
understanding and links to the community as Congress has seen fit to 
require for federal officials in other jurisdictions.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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