Democratic lawmakers have introduced a joint resolution aimed at ending what they call Trump’s unlawful and unprecedented move to federalize the Metropolitan police department (MPD) in Washington DC.
Representative Jamie Raskin, the ranking member of the House judiciary committee; DC’s non-voting House delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton; and representative Robert Garcia, ranking member of the House committee on oversight and government reform, introduced the resolution on Friday, invoking the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973.
The resolution states that Trump has not demonstrated the existence of any special emergency conditions that would warrant the federalization of the police force. In the Senate, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland will sponsor the resolution.
“The only emergency here is a lawless president experiencing a growing public relations emergency because of his close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his stubborn refusal to release the Epstein file despite his promise to do so,” said Raskin in a statement shared with the Guardian.
The Home Rule Act of 1973 states that DC residents have the authority to govern their local affairs, including by electing a mayor and local council members. But because DC is considered a “federal district” rather than a state, the president and Congress (where DC residents have no voting representatives) are given the legal ability to manage local laws and local tax dollars.
Under the act, the president has limited power to temporarily take over the DC police department for “federal purposes” under “special conditions of an emergency”. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order granting himself direct control of the MPD in a highly controversial and suspected premeditated move.
But lawmakers argue that the special conditions have not been met and that Congress has the authority to end such emergency control through a joint resolution.
In a substantial development early on Friday evening, White House officials and attorneys for Washington DC agreed to scale back the executive order of the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, regarding the federal takeover of the city’s police department.
Under the new agreement, DC’s Metropolitan police department will remain under the control of the DC police chief, Pamela Smith, instead of the Drug and Enforcement Administration’s top administrator, Terry Cole, according to reports.
According to the joint resolution’s sponsors, the president has attempted to rationalize his decision to place local police under federal control and increase militarization of the city by pushing a misleading account of DC’s crime rate, which has actually declined for two consecutive years and recently hit its lowest point in three decades.
“President Trump’s incursions against DC are among the most egregious attacks on DC home rule in decades,” said Norton. “DC residents are Americans, worthy of the same autonomy granted to residents of the states … No emergency exists in DC that the president did not create himself, and he is not using the DC Police for federal purposes, as required by law.”
Lawmakers say that his actions have worsened public safety by blocking DC’s access to $1bn in locally generated funds intended for police, fire, emergency services and other safety programs.
Additionally, the resolution notes that Trump has removed or reassigned many of DC’s prosecutors, creating a backlog in criminal cases and delaying justice for victims. He also pardoned or granted clemency to nearly 1,600 people involved in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol in 2021, including hundreds found guilty of assaulting law enforcement officers.
