The state of Alaska is prosecuting Americans born in the territory of American Samoa for voting in state elections. Criminal charges have been filed in cases that could lead to imprisonment. The case triggers legislative, judicial and political reactions, and has legal and political status implication for all the U.S. territories.
What happened in Alaska?
The defendants in the cases voted in local elections after being told by local officials that they could. In the course of voting, they signed documents stating that they were U.S. citizens — which they are not. Reporting from Pasquines explains that these cases and similar examples from the past show widespread confusion, not voter fraud.
American Samoa is one of five U.S. territories with the same “unincorporated territory” political status. All persons born in any unincorporated U.S. territory have the same duty of allegiance to our country as citizens born in a state of the union.
But voter eligibility in Alaska is limited by state law to citizens of the United States.
For historical and political rather than strictly legal reasons, federal law classifies persons born in American Samoans as nationals — but not citizens.
Therefore, American Samoans are not eligible to vote in local elections in Alaska.
A hearing before an Alaska State Court of Appeals in the lead American Samoa voting case is scheduled for January 15, 2026. But no matter what transpires in that case, the political questions raised by these proceedings also are being addressed in the State Legislature where reforms are needed to prevent a future repeat scenario.
Congressional solutions imperative?
Not surprisingly, the Member of Congress from American Samoa is not waiting for federal or state courts reviewing the local legal case to sort out the larger political questions on territorial status that the Alaska case raises.
To protect the rights of her constituents to freedom of travel and residence in Alaska, Congresswoman Amata Radewagen has introduced a new version of her individual nationality and citizenship bill. H.R. 6158 would enable nationals from American Samoa to act on an individual basis to be classified as both a national and citizen. Currently, American Samoans can live and work in a state, but must go through the ;lengthy and expensive process of naturalization in order to become U.S. citizens.
H.R. 6158 would promote equal civil rights for American Samoans residing in any state, by clarifying arguably confusing or even discriminatory laws impacting Radewagen’s people. That includes thousands of American Samoans serving on active duty and relocating between overseas deployments at bases in states as well as territories.
If enacted, H.R. 6158 also would address political questions raised in civil lawsuits on nationality and citizenship rights of persons born in unincorporated territories. The federal courts perhaps wisely have so far deferred in favor of the exercise of historical Congressional authority over territorial law and policy.
Political and territorial law context
Because persons born in Guam, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have nationality that is also classified by statute as citizenship, those Americans can vote in Alaska or any state where statutory citizenship creates eligibility to vote.
Meanwhile, local elected and traditional leaders in American Samoa want any change in the 1929 law that uses the term “nationality” but not “citizenship” to come only at local initiative based on local democratic self-determination. They do not want U.S. citizenship to be imposed as a federal edict by court, Congress, or Executive Branch. While there are activists who want the people of American Samoa to have automatic U.S. citizenship just as the people of Puerto Rico do, the majority of American Samoans do not want this.
But federal, state, and local laws are not uniform or even consistent in applying the terms “nationality” and “citizenship.” For example, applicable U.S. nationality law defines persons born in a state and subject to the 14th Amendment as “nationals and citizens.”
Federal court litigation is no substitute for self-determination
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a U.S. Federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the 14th Amendment does not apply to or provide for Americans born in the territories the same “national and citizen” status as Americans born in states.
The theory of plaintiffs in that that 2022 case (Fitisemanu v. United States) was that the 14th Amendment applies to all territories the same as in the states. But that would have required the court to determine what other provisions of the U.S. Constitution do or do not apply to each territory, and on what basis that would be decided.
Clearly, judicially imposed incorporation into the union by courts instead of through self-determination would end government by consent on future political status through democratic self-determination. Instead, more judicial rulings for all territories would substitute the court’s decisions on future political status for choices adopted by our fellow Americans in each territory.
How could this affect Puerto Rico?
Puerto Ricans are birthright citizens of the United States with full rights to vote in local elections throughout the United States and in federal elections while living in states. The Alaska cases would n to come up for Puerto Ricans. However, Puerto Rico has repeatedly chosen statehood and officially requested admission in 2018. While Congress pays lip service to the importance of self-determination for the territories, they have failed to take action on this democratically determined choice of a permanent political status for Puerto Rico.
Allowing Congress to impose U.S. citizenship on the U.S. nationals of American Samoa would create a legal precedent that could interfere with self-determination for Puerto Rico and the other territories. When the United States conferred U.S. citizenship on Puerto Ricans, the law allowed residents of Puerto Rico to choose not to become U.S. citizens. Radewagen’s bill offers that choice to individuals, while demands to confer citizenship across the board for all American Samoans would not.
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