Why Is Biden Attacking Democracy?

Give President Joe Biden democracy, self-rule, and statehood for Washington, D.C. But not yet.

Yesterday, Biden announced that he would not veto Congress’s override of a new criminal code for D.C. passed by its city council. “I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule—but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections—such as lowering penalties for carjackings,” Biden tweeted. “If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did—I’ll sign it.”

If you support self-rule for jurisdictions only so long as they do not make choices you oppose, you do not actually support self-rule. The bill is meant to streamline and update D.C.’s criminal code; the city council “95 percent” of the bill, excepting some of its lower maximum penalties for certain crimes and its expansion of jury trials to include misdemeanors, arguing that the latter would overburden the system.