Friday, March 16, 2007
Taxation Without Representation
No one is more in favor of the District of Columbia receiving full representation in Congress than me. However, this scheme by Tom Davis to give the nation's capital a vote in the House of Representatives together with an additional seat for the state of Utah is unconstitutional. But don't take my word for it. Here's the opinion of GWU law professor Jonathan Turley, who except for my friends at the Cato Institute, is probably the most knowledgeable person around regarding our founding docuement:
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"I truly believe this is a dead letter as soon as it arrives to court," he said. "And if the legislation was struck down after a lengthy court fight," he said, "it could jeopardize any laws that had been passed in the meantime in which the D.C. or Utah votes were critical."This bill is simply Tom Davis up to his old tricks. Mr. Turley continues:
"The District was created openly, expressly to be a non-state," Turley said, calling the bill "the most premeditated unconstitutional act of Congress in decades."Gee, "the most premeditated unconstitutional act of Congress in decades." Well, to what legislation is Mr. Turley referring to that Congress passed years ago? That's easy. It's the act, also brought to us by Representative Davis, that allowed Elizabeth Morgan to return to the U.S. and avoid all court judgements against her in her famous custody battle with her ex-husband Eric Foretich. I just happened to find this story by Jonathan Groner of the Legal Times who reported on the law being overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals 20 years after it was approved by Congress. And the lawyer who defended Mr. Foretich in this case? That would be Jonathan Turley.
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