Today Mayor Adrian Fenty formally announced he’s appealing the U.S. Appellate Court’s decision to overturn the city’s restrictive handgun laws. The statutes, on the books for over 30 years, severely limit firearms ownership, a policy the court said violates the Second Amendment. Fenty’s appeal comes as no surprise. Though we found mixed reactions in early March, most D.C. officials support the ban. The mayor’s case will first be reheard in the Court of Appeals, but…

Update, Part 3: Here’s the audio of Rep. Gohmert’s wisdom on the District’s lack of representation. Or, should we say, over-representation? And we’ve redesigned the banner for his website to better reflect his new responsibilities… Louie Gohmert — The District’s Voting Representative powered by ODEO–> Update, Part 2: Here’s a pic of Louie. He seems like a nice guy. And this is what he said, according to the Congressional Record: “I would submit to…

Republicans can’t even let the District have a symbolic victory, can they? Roll Call is reporting today that House Republicans are threatening to sue over a rule change passed Wednesday that allows D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and the representatives of U.S. territories to vote on amendments to legislation on the House Floor. Republicans claim that only states should have the right to vote on the House floor, and that the change grants the Democratic…

It seemed like it would be our year. After lobbying throughout most of 2006, voting rights activists and their allies in Congress had all but convinced House Republicans to go along with a plan to grant the District one voting seat in the House of Representatives. The relevant congressional committees had signed off on the legislation; Utah, which would similarly gain a seat in a partisan tit-for-tat exchange, formally endorsed the idea; President Bush indicated…

Over the past few months, DCist has been following the legislative gridlock over Virginia transportation funding fairly closely. We’ve also been pretty clear about our position on the issue, and we hope (but don’t necessarily expect) those blocking the budget to resolve their problems before the dispute leads to a government shutdown in July. On Monday, the Post took a look at growing worries among Virginia House Republicans that voters might express frustration with the…

Election Night will be a frenzy of returns, predictions and analysis. While all eyes will be on the Race for the White House, don’t forget that there will be many tight races that will determine the make-up of Congress and control of the House and the Senate. So when you’re watching news coverage on Election Night, we’d like to point you to a few interesting races that will be worth watching. For the time being…