Washington, DC – Attorney General Karl A. Racine and Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey DeWitt have urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to rule on the legality of the DC Budget Autonomy Act. They thus disagreed with Mayor Muriel Bowser, who two weeks ago asked the court to dismiss the case and vacate U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan’s decision without ruling on the merits of the dispute.

“CFO DeWitt and I continue to agree with U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan and regretfully conclude that the Budget Autonomy Act is not legally sound and thus cannot be enforced by the District,” Attorney General Racine said. “We believe the case should go forward and the court should decide it on its merits.”

The latest filing asserts that Chief Financial Officer DeWitt’s continued view, shared by Attorney General Racine, that the Act is invalid under federal law creates a present, concrete dispute properly subject to judicial resolution at this time. The filing also explains why a failure to rule on the merits could destabilize the government – because it would not resolve the legal impasse between the Council of the District of Columbia, which wishes to proceed under the Act, and Chief Financial Officer DeWitt, whose position after extensive legal analysis is that he cannot lawfully implement the Act absent a binding court order sustaining its validity.