Joe Biden positioned himself as a champion of statehood

For the first two years of his presidency, Joe Biden positioned himself as a champion of statehood and home rule in the District of Columbia. The president urged Congress to make D.C. the 51st state—even as the Senate filibuster stood in the way—and vowed to defend District residents’ right to govern themselves through their limited local democracy. Any “denial of self-governance” in D.C., he proclaimed, is “an affront to the democratic values on which our Nation was founded.”

Then, on Thursday, he stabbed D.C. in the back. In a single tweet, the president reversed more than two years of staunch support for home rule—abandoning his principles the moment they became politically inexpedient. Biden announced that he would sign legislation nullifying the modernization of D.C.’s criminal code. His action will, perversely, make the District less safe, preserving an outdated 122-year-old criminal code whose ambiguities actually make it harder for prosecutors to charge violent crimes.

Just as importantly, Biden’s decision will empower congressional Republicans to continue overriding D.C.’s democratically enacted legislation, including progressive laws expanding the rights of immigrants, abortion providers, LGBTQ people, and other vulnerable groups. The president has, in effect, declared open season on the District’s democracy.

1. 16TH CENTURY 2. 17TH CENTURY 3. 18TH CENTURY 4. 1910S 5. 1920S 6. 1930S 7. 1940S 8. 1950S 9. 1960S 10. 1980S 11. 1990S 12. 19TH CENTURY 13. ABORTION 14. ACCIDENT 15. ACTOR 16. ADDICTION 17. ADOLESCENCE 18. ADOPTION 19. ADULTERY 20. ADVERTISING 21. AFGHANISTAN 22. AFRICA 23. AFTERCREDITSSTINGER 24. AGENT 25. AGRICULTURE 26. AIDS 27. AIRPLANE 28. AIRPLANE CRASH 29. AIRPORT 30. ALASKA 31. ALCOHOL 32. ALCOHOLIC 33. ALCOHOLISM 34. ALIEN 35. ALIEN INVASION 36. ALPS MOUNTAINS 37. ALZHEIMERS DISEASE 38. AMERICAN FOOTBALL 39. AMNESIA 40. AMUSEMENT PARK 41. ANCIENT ROME 42. ANDROID 43. ANGEL 44. ANIMAL 45. ANIMAL ATTACK 46. ANIME 47. ANTHOLOGY 48. ANTHROPOMORPHISM 49. APOCALYPSE 50. ARABIAN 51. ARCHITECT 52. ARCHITECTURE 53. ARGENTINA 54. ARIZONA 55. ARMY 56. ART 57. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 58. ARTIST 59. ASSASSIN 60. ASSASSINATION 61. ASTRONAUT 62. ASYLUM 63. ATOMIC BOMB 64. AUSTRALIA 65. AUSTRIA 66. AUTHOR 67. AUTISM 68. AVANT GARDE 69. AVIATION 70. B MOVIE 71. BABY 72. BABYSITTER 73. BALLET 74. BAND 75. BANDIT 76. BANK 77. BANK ROBBER 78. BANK ROBBERY 79. BARCELONA SPAIN 80. BASEBALL 81. BASED ON A TRUE STORY 82. BASED ON CHILDRENS BOOK 83. BASED ON COMIC 84. BASED ON MANGA 85. BASED ON MEMOIR OR AUTOBIOGRAPHY 86. BASED ON NOVEL OR BOOK 87. BASED ON PLAY OR MUSICAL 88. BASED ON SHORT STORY 89. BASED ON TV SERIES 90. BASED ON VIDEO GAME 91. BASED ON YOUNG ADULT NOVEL 92. BASKETBALL 93. BATTLE 94. BEACH 95. BEAR 96. BEER 97. BEHIND THE SCENES 98. BERLIN GERMANY 99. BEST FRIEND 100. BETRAYAL 101. BIBLE 102. BICYCLE 103. BIGFOOT 104. BIKER 105. BIOGRAPHY 106. BIRD 107. BIRTHDAY 108. BLACK AND WHITE 109. BLACK MAGIC 110. BLACKMAIL 111. BLAXPLOITATION 112. BLIND 113. BLINDNESS 114. BLUES 115. BOARDING SCHOOL 116. BOAT 117. BOMB 118. BONDAGE 119. BOUNTY HUNTER 120. BOXER 121. BOXING 122. BREAK UP 123. BRIDGE 124. BRITISH NOIR 125. BROADWAY 126. BROOKLYN NEW YORK CITY 127. BROTHEL 128. BROTHER 129. BUDDHISM 130. BULLY 131. BULLYING 132. CABARET 133. CABIN 134. CALIFORNIA 135. CAMPING 136. CANADA 137. CANCER 138. CANNIBAL 139. CANNIBALISM 140. CANUXPLOITATION 141. CAPITALISM 142. CAR ACCIDENT 143. CAR CRASH 144. CAR RACE 145. CARIBBEAN SEA 146. CARNIVAL 147. CARTOON 148. CASINO 149. CASTLE 150. CAT 151. CATTLE 152. CAVE 153. CELEBRITY 154. CEMETERY 155. CHANCHADA 156. CHASE 157. CHEATING 158. CHICAGO USA 159. CHILD 160. CHILDHOOD 161. CHILDHOOD FRIENDS 162. CHILDREN 163. CHILE 164. CHINA 165. CHINESE 166. CHRISTIAN FILM 167. CHRISTIANITY 168. CHRISTMAS 169. CHURCH 170. CIA 171. CINEMA 172. CIRCUS 173. CIVIL WAR 174. CLASSICAL MUSIC 175. CLAYMATION 176. CLIMATE CHANGE 177. CLIMBING 178. CLOWN 179. COCAINE 180. COLD WAR 181. COLLEGE 182. COLONIALISM 183. COLOR 184. COMEDIAN 185. COMIC BOOK 186. COMING OF AGE 187. COMING OUT 188. COMMUNISM 189. COMMUNIST 190. COMPETITION 191. COMPILATION 192. COMPOSER 193. COMPUTER 194. COMPUTER ANIMATION 195. CON MAN 196. CONCERT 197. CONCERT FILM 198. CONCERT FOOTAGE 199. CONSPIRACY 200. CONSPIRACY THEORY 201. COOKING 202. COP 203. CORPSE 204. CORRUPTION 205. COUNTRY MUSIC 206. COUNTRYSIDE 207. COUPLE 208. COURT CASE 209. COURTROOM 210. COWBOY 211. CREATURE 212. CRIMINAL 213. CUBA 214. CULT 215. CULT FILM 216. CULTURE 217. CURSE 218. CYBERPUNK 219. CYBORG 220. CYCLING 221. DANCE 222. DANCER 223. DANCING 224. DARK COMEDY 225. DATING 226. DAUGHTER 227. DC COMICS 228. DEATH 229. DEBT 230. DECAPITATION 231. DECEPTION 232. DEMON 233. DENMARK 234. DEPRESSION 235. DESERT 236. DETECTIVE 237. DEVIL 238. DIAMOND 239. DINOSAUR 240. DISABILITY 241. DISAPPEARANCE 242. DISASTER 243. DISEASE 244. DISGUISE 245. DIVORCE 246. DOCTOR 247. DOCUDRAMA 248. DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING 249. DOG 250. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 251. DRAG QUEEN 252. DRAGON 253. DREAM 254. DRUG ABUSE 255. DRUG ADDICTION 256. DRUG DEALER 257. DRUG TRAFFIC 258. DRUG USE 259. DRUGS 260. DUEL 261. DURINGCREDITSSTINGER 262. DUTCH CABARET 263. DYING AND DEATH 264. DYSFUNCTIONAL FAMILY 265. DYSTOPIA 266. EARLY 1900S 267. EARTHQUAKE 268. ECONOMICS 269. EDUCATION 270. EDUCATIONAL 271. EGYPT 272. ELDERLY 273. ELECTION 274. ELEPHANT 275. ENGLAND 276. ENVIRONMENT 277. EPIC 278. EROTICISM 279. ESCAPE 280. ESPIONAGE 281. ESSAY FILM 282. EUROPE 283. EVIL 284. EX CON 285. EXORCISM 286. EXPERIMENT 287. EXPLOITATION 288. EXPLOSION 289. EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR 290. EXTREME SPORTS 291. FACTORY 292. FAIRY TALE 293. FAITH 294. FALLING IN LOVE 295. FAMILY 296. FAMILY DRAMA 297. FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS 298. FAMILY SECRETS 299. FAN FILM 300. FARM 301. HORROR 302. ZOMBIE 303. THE DARK 304. FILMS 305. NORMAL 306. SUCCESS 307. STUDY 308. ABNORMAL 309. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last visited Washington 310. Joe Biden has faced questions over whether he is best suited 311. Biden the most progressive president that we’ve had in a long time 312. Joe Biden team is moving to tap top Democratic allies 313. Joe Biden had a cancerous skin lesion removed last month 313. Joe Biden has claimed he'll stop all efforts to cut Social Security 314. Joe Biden positioned himself as a champion of statehood

Republicans, abetted by conservative media, have spread so many lies about the “D.C. crime bill” that rebutting all their misrepresentations would require an Infinite Jest–length treatise. Rather than tackle distortions one-by-one, I will simply explain what the measure truly does and how it came to be. The bill sought to address a problem that has roiled the District’s criminal legal system: Our criminal code was authored by Congress in 1901, and it is rife with vague and archaic provisions that create uncertainty about what constitutes a crime and how various offenses can be punished. The code ranks as one of the worst in the country in terms of clarity and consistency. For decades, many states faced similar problems. And so, starting in the 1960s, states began modernizing their criminal codes.

That is precisely what D.C. did, as well. To lead the effort, the D.C. Council created a commission staffed with attorneys and an advisory group of experts. This expert group included representatives from the D.C. attorney general’s office and the U.S. attorney’s office—which, together, prosecute all crimes committed in the District. The commission also invited a representative of the mayor’s office to take part in the overhaul, though Mayor Muriel Bowser showed little interest in the process and rarely sent a representative to participate. As I wrote in January, the commission’s work was comprehensive and extensively documented.

In the end, the advisory group—including representatives from both prosecutors’ offices—voted unanimously to send the commission’s recommendations to the council. After making small changes, the D.C. Council unanimously passed the bill twice. After refusing to participate in the process for years, Bowser abruptly vetoed the measure, citing misunderstandings that I will address shortly. The council easily overrode her veto.

By that point, however, Republicans had seized control of the House of Representatives. Congress has the power to nullify any D.C. law, though it has not done so for 30 years. Emboldened by the partial success of crime fearmongering in the midterms, House Republicans decided to target the criminal code revision for nullification. In the end, 31 Democrats joined every Republican in voting to override the measure (none of whom represent states close to D.C.). After Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin joined Senate Republicans in supporting nullification, the override was one vote—and one presidential signature—away from success. (The filibuster doesn’t apply to bills that override D.C.’s laws.)

Biden had previously announced his opposition to the nullification effort, and he might have staved off further defections in the Senate by promising a veto. Instead, he abruptly changed course on Thursday, promising the sign the bill if it reached his desk. His support guarantees that it’ll pass the Senate with multiple Democratic votes.