About The Project
For several years, DC Appleseed has been a central player in the effort to gain full-voting representation in Congress for the District of Columbia through congressional legislation. To achieve that goal, DC Appleseed has worked closely with other advocacy organizations and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton to garner support for the legislation by: writing legal memoranda--both on our own and with our pro bono lawyers at Latham & Watkins, LLP--that have been distributed to members of Congress and defended the constitutionality of various provisions in the bill; drafting and placing oped pieces supporting the bill in several newspapers, signed by DC Appleseed and other legal scholars; and recruiting important legal scholars to testify at congressional hearings on the bill, as well as testifying ourselves. These efforts have helped advance the District of Columbia Fair and Equal House Voting Rights Act of 2007--a bill that would grant D.C. a voting representative in the House of Representatives. This bill passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 241-177.
