OK, we had some technical issues loading the web cast there, so apologies, we ended up missing the first 30 minutes of the hearing. (Tip to Mac users: you have to download Real Player for Mac before you can stream the hearing).
Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, hearing on: H.R. 157, the “District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act if 2009”
10:30 a.m.: Rep. Jason Chaffetz just wrapped up his first ever committee testimony in Congress. Awww, he’s so aborable! He made a basic argument for the bill being unconstitutional. If the District wants representatives, that has be done some other way, he said.
10:33 a.m.: D.C.’s favorite voting Representative, Louie Gohmert of Texas, is here. He mentions bill that would cede the rest of D.C. back to Maryland. Mr. Gohmert, have you by any chance asked Maryland whether they want us?
Oh, and now Gohmert says he has a bill proposing no federal income tax for the District of Columbia! Boy, Louie really is looking out for our interests.
10:39 a.m. Former Va. Rep. Tom Davis, longtime proponent of D.C. Voting Rights, is up. “Those opposing the bill ignore 200 years of case law,” he says. Davis is giving everyone in the room a hardcore schooling on the history of the founding of the District, making the point that there is no way the founding fathers meant to disenfranchise some 500,000 citizens.
… we missed another chunk there, let us know who we missed if you’re watching along.
10:54 p.m. D.C. National Guard Iraq war veteran Capt. Yolanda Lee comes to the microphone. She’s repping the voting rights movement’s favorite trump card over the last couple of years: veterans from the District have bravely fought for their country, and yet have no voting representative in Congress. Capt. Lee is telling the committee a lot of details about her combat experience. Pretty heavy stuff. Even Iraqis get to vote, she says.
11:00 a.m. Jonathan Turley, the George Washington University Law School professor who testifies against the bill at seemingly every voting rights act hearing, is back. He’s going over much the same arguments he’s made time and again, that while he agrees with the bill’s sentiments, he believes the bill is flagrantly unconstitutional. He says Tom Davis is ignoring huge sections of the history of the District, and what the framers intended it to be.
Tough talk! Turley calls this bill a “Faustian bargain,” says the same issue was already settled by the Court in the Heller case, and calls on voting rights activists not to settle for partial representation, to go for statehood.
11:06 a.m. Viet Dinh comes forward to counter Turley’s testimony, says that Congress has the power to give D.C. a voting rep. Courts have allowed that District residents ought to be treated as residents of states in many other matters, like the right to jury trial, etc.
11:22 a.m. Ehhhn, our eyes are starting to glaze over a little here. We’ve heard all these back-and-fourth legal arguments so many times before. Dinh and Turley are each addressing specific questions from the committee now. We’ll update again if anything interesting actually happens, but it’s looking unlikely.
11:26 a.m. Haha, OK, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) just took Turley to task for hyperbole. Conyers reads back Turley’s testimony: “I consider this act the most pre-meditated unconstitutional act in decades.” Conyers thinks Turley has insulted Congress. Turley tries to backtrack.
11:41 a.m. Rep. Melvin Watt (D-N.C.) wonders about what will happen when the bill ends up before the Supreme Court. Dinh thinks the court would uphold it, Turley doesn’t, etc.
