About
D.C. Statehood Now is a campaign hosted by the ACLU of the District of Columbia, in active partnership with ACLU affiliates across the country and the National ACLU. We also collaborate and partner with the many organizations and individuals who have been leading on this civil rights fight for generations.
Why is the ACLU fighting for D.C. Statehood?
Washington, D.C. is the only national capital in the democratic world whose citizens do not have equal voting and representation rights. The denial of full voting rights to the 700,000 residents of D.C., the majority of whom are Black and brown, is an egregious example of ongoing voter suppression happening in our country today.
People who live in our nation’s capital are just like people who live in any other state. We are veterans, teachers, nurses, small business owners, and construction workers. Generations of families have called D.C. home like any other state. Granting D.C. statehood is the only way to enfranchise the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have been wrongly denied our full voting rights for more than 200 years.
Lack of statehood rights undermines the will of the people in D.C. every day as we try to participate in our local democracy. The ACLU and our allies cannot fully defend and protect civil rights and civil liberties in the nation’s capital without D.C. statehood.
Simply put, there is no democracy without D.C. Statehood.
What makes Washington, D.C. different than a state?
The 700,000 people living in Washington, D.C. face taxation without representation every day. We pay federal and local taxes but have no vote in Congress because we don’t have statehood. Instead, D.C. is considered a “federal district.”