Washington, D.C. does not have its own constitution in the way the 50 states do. The District is governed by three overlapping documents instead: Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the U.S. Constitution, which places the seat of government under congressional control; the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, which delegates day-to-day governance to a locally elected Mayor and Council; and a proposed statehood constitution that D.C. voters have ratified but Congress has never enacted.
Why D.C. Has No Constitution of Its Own
States derive their existence and their sovereign powers from their own constitutions. D.C. does not, because it is not a state. The District Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power “to exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever” over the district that serves as the seat of the federal government.1Congress.gov. Article I Section 8 Clause 17 – Enclave Clause That grant is about as broad as constitutional language gets. It has been the basis for federal authority over the capital since 1790.
The framers built the arrangement to keep any single state from gaining leverage over the federal government by hosting it. The consequence for residents today is that no inherent sovereign power sits behind local government in D.C. Whatever authority the Mayor, the Council, and the courts exercise, they exercise because Congress chose to hand it to them, and Congress can rework that grant.
The Home Rule Act: D.C.’s Governing Charter
The closest functional equivalent to a state constitution in D.C. is the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, enacted by Congress in 1973 and codified beginning at D.C. Code § 1-201.01.2D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code Title 1 Chapter 2 – District of Columbia Home Rule Before it passed, Congress itself ran the District’s day-to-day affairs. The Home Rule Act shifted much of that work to a locally elected government.
Under the Act, the Mayor serves as the chief executive, overseeing agencies including the Metropolitan Police Department, the Department of Public Works, and the school system. The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative body, with thirteen members: a chairman and four at-large members elected citywide, plus one representative from each of the District’s eight wards.3Council of the District of Columbia. Councilmembers The District levies its own income and property taxes and administers a multibillion-dollar annual budget.
What the Act does not do is give D.C. the independent legal footing a state constitution provides. Authority under Home Rule is delegated, not inherent, and the statute itself sets out a series of hard limits and federal review procedures that no state government faces.
What a State Constitution Would Cover That Home Rule Does Not
The gap between Home Rule and a real constitution shows up most clearly in the things D.C.’s local government cannot do, and in the federal checks that sit on top of every local decision.
Prohibited Subjects for the Council
Section 1-206.02 of the D.C. Code spells out subjects the Council is barred from legislating on.4D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 1-206.02 – Limitations on the Council The Council cannot tax federal property or the property of any state. It cannot impose an income tax on nonresidents, so people who commute in from Maryland or Virginia pay no D.C. income tax on wages earned in the city. It cannot alter the federal building height limits that shape the city’s skyline. It cannot restructure the D.C. courts or amend federal law, and it cannot pass legislation that reaches beyond the District’s borders or touches federal functions.
Congressional Review of Every Local Law
Every act the Council passes must be transmitted to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate and then wait out a review period before taking effect. The standard window is 30 legislative days. For legislation touching the criminal code, sentencing, or prisoner treatment, the window doubles to 60 days.4D.C. Law Library. District of Columbia Code 1-206.02 – Limitations on the Council During that period Congress can pass a joint resolution of disapproval, signed by the President, that retroactively nullifies the local law. Since 1973, four such resolutions have taken effect. The most recent, in 2023, struck down D.C.’s Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022.
Federal Approval of the Local Budget
D.C.’s annual budget, including spending of locally raised tax revenue, must be approved through the federal appropriations process.5Congress.gov. District of Columbia FY2025 Budget Status: In Brief No other American city needs permission from Congress to spend its own tax dollars. Congress attaches policy riders to that appropriations bill each year, and those riders have blocked D.C. from spending local funds on abortion services for low-income residents, on certain policing reform measures, on a local law allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections, and on enforcement of locally enacted vehicle emission standards. The riders change with each Congress.
D.C. passed the Local Budget Autonomy Amendment Act in 2012 to route locally funded spending through a passive 30-day review rather than an affirmative approval. The federal portion still must be included in a congressional appropriations act, and Congress showed in fiscal year 2025 that it could still force D.C. to revert local expenditures to prior-year levels through the appropriations process.5Congress.gov. District of Columbia FY2025 Budget Status: In Brief
Federal Control of Courts and Prosecution
D.C. has its own trial and appellate courts, but its judges are not elected or appointed the way state judges are. A seven-member Judicial Nomination Commission forwards three names to the President for each vacancy; the President selects one; the U.S. Senate confirms.6Judicial Nomination Commission. DC Code Section 1-204.34 Judges serve 15-year terms. Local prosecution runs through a presidential appointee as well: the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia handles both federal and most local criminal cases in the city.7The United States Department of Justice. District of Columbia
Presidential Authority Over Local Police
Section 740 of the Home Rule Act allows the President, on finding “special conditions of an emergency nature,” to direct the Mayor to make the Metropolitan Police Department available for federal purposes.8Council of the District of Columbia. District of Columbia Home Rule Act Congressional leaders must be notified within 48 hours, and the arrangement expires after 30 days unless Congress extends it by joint resolution. The provision was invoked in August 2025, when the President declared a crime emergency in the District and directed that the Metropolitan Police be made available for federal law enforcement.9The White House. Declaring a Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia No state governor faces a comparable unilateral federal claim on state police.
Nothing in this catalog resembles the relationship between a state constitution and the federal government. A state constitution is the source of a state’s authority; the Home Rule Act is a delegation with the delegator watching over its shoulder.
The Statehood Constitution D.C. Residents Have Already Ratified
D.C. voters have actually ratified a proposed state constitution twice. The first version, drafted for a proposed state called “New Columbia,” was ratified in 1982 and enacted into local law in 1987. A revised version was put before voters in a 2016 statehood referendum, during which the D.C. Council changed the proposed state’s name to Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, honoring Frederick Douglass.10Library of Congress. Guide to Law Online: U.S. Washington, D.C. – Constitution The 2016 vote was advisory and passed by a wide margin.
The document itself reads like a standard state charter. It creates a bicameral legislature — a Senate and a House of Representatives — replacing the current Council. Executive authority would shift from the Mayor to a Governor elected to four-year terms. The existing local courts would become an independent state judiciary. A Bill of Rights tracks federal protections and adds guarantees covering voting rights, environmental protection, and labor standards.11Statehood.dc.gov. Constitution for the State of Washington, DC The proposal also carves out a smaller federal enclave for government buildings and monuments, leaving the residential areas to form the new state.
None of it is currently in force. A ratified state constitution does nothing until Congress admits the underlying territory as a state, and Congress has not done so.
Where Statehood Stands
The Washington, D.C. Admission Act has been reintroduced in every recent Congress. The current version, H.R. 51, was introduced in January 2025 and referred to multiple House committees, where it sat without further action as of early 2026.12Congress.gov. H.R.51 – 119th Congress (2025-2026): Washington, D.C. Admission Act The bill cleared the full House once, in 2021, but has never received a Senate floor vote.
So the practical answer for anyone trying to find D.C.’s constitution is this. The document that functions like one is the Home Rule Act, sitting in the D.C. Code alongside a long list of federal reservations. The document drafted to serve as an actual state constitution exists, has been approved by D.C. voters, and is waiting on an act of Congress that has not come.