What could happen to the Home Rule Act under a second Trump term?

WASHINGTON — Following former President Donald Trump’s projected win of a second term earlier this week, D.C. residents are wondering what happens to the District once he moves back into the White House.

Trump has said a lot about D.C. In a social media post he said the District “must be taken over and properly run by the federal government,” in October 2023. While campaigning over the past year, he's talked about crime rates in the city and his plans to "take over."

Republican control of the Senate and possibly the House further complicates D.C.'s self-governance. Republicans have introduced multiple bills over the past few years that threatened repealing D.C.'s Home Rule Act. But what is it?

Since the 1970s, D.C. has had its own government elected by residents. This was established with Congress passing the Home Rule Act of 1973. It went into effect in 1975 after being signed into law by President Richard Nixon.

The Home Rule Act formed the roles of the city council and the mayor, and allowed D.C. to have some autonomy and pass its own laws. 

But here’s the catch — all D.C. legislation must still be approved by Congress.

And unlike states, D.C.’s home rule is established by a simple law, not a constitution, making it easier to repeal like any other law. If repealed, Congress could essentially abolish D.C.'s government.

American Civil Liberties Union of D.C.’s Executive Director Monica Hopkins said in a statement on Wednesday that a second Trump term and a Republican Congress is a “grave threat to our rights and self-governance in the District.”

“Trump and his allies have threatened to ‘take over’ D.C. by calling in the National Guard or even by repealing our right to Home Rule. We will now be on the defensive, protecting the basic rights and freedoms that are rightfully ours,” Hopkins said in the statement.

Even with the Home Rule Act, the president controls the District’s National Guard and has the authority to federalize the police department. In 2022, some Congress members tried to change that with the D.C. National Guard Home Rule Act. It passed in the House, but was rejected in the Senate.