The summer of 2025 has been difficult for many residents of Washington, D.C. As the city faces a $1.1 billion budget hole that was created by the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, President Donald Trump flooded the streets with troops. In contrast to the administration’s actions in Los Angeles, even many of Trump’s most ardent critics admit that federal laws grant him enormous power to assert control over life in the nation’s capital.

Many observers naturally ask: Why do Washingtonians appear to possess so little political power?

The summer of 2025 has been difficult for many residents of Washington, D.C. As the city faces a $1.1 billion budget hole that was created by the Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, President Donald Trump flooded the streets with troops. In contrast to the administration’s actions in Los Angeles, even many of Trump’s most ardent critics admit that federal laws grant him enormous power to assert control over life in the nation’s capital.

Many observers naturally ask: Why do Washingtonians appear to possess so little political power?

The truth is that Washington has long existed in a constitutional gray zone. Unlike the capitals of most other comparable democracies, the populace in Washington is under the control of the federal government and citizens lack the full rights accorded to Americans who live in every other part of the country. For those who reside in the area surrounding the White House and Capitol Hill, taxation without representation remains the norm. Congress maintains control over the city budget. Washingtonians do not have voting representation in the House of Representatives or Senate.

In 1978, a bipartisan coalition of legislators, who were inspired by the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement, attempted to bring to an end this problematic status quo through a constitutional amendment that would guarantee Washington full representation in Congress. Though their effort failed, the movement set off a struggle that continues to this day.

The west front of the U.S. Capitol with cows in the foreground in a painting from 1831. Painting by John Rubens Smith via Library of Congress

The nebulous status of Washington, D.C. is rooted in the U.S. Constitution. Under Article I, Section 8, Clause 17, the “District Clause” created a territory whose inhabitants would lack basic forms of autonomous power or political representation.

The decision to treat the District of Columbia, also known as Washington, D.C., as a property of the federal government stemmed from a number of factors. There were ongoing fears about an anti-government mutiny that had taken place in 1783, during which the Executive Council of Pennsylvania refused to stifle the rebellion. The Founding Fathers concluded that the federal government needed to be situated in an area where elected officials would never have to contend with state and local officials when trying to maintain security. There were also concerns that if the seat of the federal government was located within a state, then that state would enjoy disproportionate power.

In 1790, President George Washington and the U.S. Congress decided to make the District of Columbia the nation’s capital. The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801 granted Congress complete control over the District of Columbia. Because the district was still largely a rural and underdeveloped area with only about 3,000 inhabitants, and many residents working in politics did not consider it to be a permanent home,........

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