District of Columbia — Home Rule Act

Per the District of Columbia AI Note (Alaap B. Shah, Epstein Becker & Green, April 2026), the District of Columbia occupies a unique constitutional position in the U.S. federal system. As a federal district established under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, DC is subject to the exclusive legislative jurisdiction of Congress, and the DC Council’s legislative authority derives from the DC Home Rule Act. Federal law is therefore paramount and directly applicable within the District alongside DC law. Because the DC Council has not enacted AI-specific legislation applicable to the private sector, federal law (e.g., FTC Act, EEOC enforcement, sectoral AI rules) carries the principal weight in private-sector AI matters within DC.