Georgetown Center for the Constitution

Admissions Clause

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

Article IV

Section 3

Clause 1

Roderick M. Hills Jr., The Unwritten Constitution for Admitting States, 89 Fordham L. Rev. 1877 (2021).

Explaining that the Federalists originally interpreted the Admissions Clause to bestow Congress broad power to govern new territories as colonies of the original states, allowing any conditions to be placed on new admissions.
Peter Raven-Hansen, Constitutionality of D.C. Statehood, 60 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 160 (1991).

Arguing that D.C. statehood is unconstitutional under the language of the Admissions Clause.