DC Closer to Ending 'Taxation without Representation'

The District of Columbia was carved out of Virginia and Maryland more than 200 years ago in a deal that deprived its residents of a vote in the Congress. Now 600,000 people live in Washington, DC, and they're on the verge of finally getting the franchise. The US Senate agreed yesterday to debate the old question of whether DC residents should have voting representation. The current non-voting congresswoman, Eleanor Holmes Norton, says that means, “all lights are on go. There can be no turning back now.” Adam Kurland is a professor of law at Howard University School of Law.