The direct authority to govern the federal district lies with congress and the federal government.
The congress chooses to allow an elected mayor to govern the DC municipal government as a specific delegation of its federal power, by law. Note that the power of the DC mayor does not therefore flow upward from the people as in other US municipalities, it flows down from congress. Congress merely delegates the exercise of that authority to an official chosen by the citizens of the district by election; it could change its mind about that tomorrow and completely abolish the office of Mayor of DC if it so decided.
Since the federal government is the sovereign power in the federal district, all federal officers in the executive are above the mayor and the mayor's subordinates in the chain of governance and command within the federal district.
Federal Marshals are not local law enforcement officers. They are federal law enforcement officers. Just as Federal Marshals in Tombstone were not answerable to the corrupt and intimidated locally appointed sheriff of the town of Tombstone, these federal deputized Marshals are not answerable to the corrupt and intimidated mayor of Washington DC.
This is going Wyatt Earp on the bitch, in other words.
The District of Columbia is not a state.
The direct authority to govern the federal district lies with congress and the federal government.
The congress chooses to allow an elected mayor to govern the DC municipal government as a specific delegation of its federal power, by law. Note that the power of the DC mayor does not therefore flow upward from the people as in other US municipalities, it flows down from congress. Congress merely delegates the exercise of that authority to an official chosen by the citizens of the district by election; it could change its mind about that tomorrow and completely abolish the office of Mayor of DC if it so decided.
Since the federal government is the sovereign power in the federal district, all federal officers in the executive are above the mayor and the mayor's subordinates in the chain of governance and command within the federal district.
Federal Marshals are not local law enforcement officers. They are federal law enforcement officers. Just as Federal Marshals in Tombstone were not answerable to the corrupt and intimidated locally appointed sheriff of the town of Tombstone, these federal deputized Marshals are not answerable to the corrupt and intimidated mayor of Washington DC.
This is going Wyatt Earp on the bitch, in other words.
Thanks for the reply...very informative and helpful to me. I'm really praying for a good outcome tonight!
Great synopsis. Thanks!