The Puerto Rico Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR), established in 2022, issued a report on the effects of the Insular Cases on the civil rights of the residents of Puerto Rico. In their final report, the Committee brought together their previous reports and concluded that there is a colonial relationship between the United States government and Puerto Rico, causing the people of Puerto Rico to live under unequal and discriminatory treatment by the United States government.
The Insular Cases
The Insular Cases, a series of Supreme Court decisions on the island territories (“insular” means “about islands”), established the new classification of unincorporated territories, which can continue to be territories indefinitely without becoming states. They are not fully protected by the U.S. Constitution and remain under the Territory Clause until Congress specifically says otherwise.
Recent Supreme Court decisions have made it clear that the In solar Cases still apply to the U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico. The USCCR report holds that the continuing influence of these early 20th century decisions keeps Puerto Rico in an unjust position.
The conclusions
The USCCR report drew conclusions regarding inequity in federal benefits, voting rights, and legislative attention to the needs of Puerto Rico. All these issues, they believe, stem from the continuing sway of the Insular Cases. They stated that Congress should use its plenary powers to “attend to the issue of the Insular Cases.”
While they did not specify how Congress might “attend to” the Insular Cases, there have been previous Congressional resolutions and proposed bills condemning the Insular Cases. The Department of Justice responded to a letter from Members of Congress, repudiating the Insular Cases but taking no further action.
The report also concluded that U.S. citizens in the territories should be treated equally with U.S. citizens living in the states, and that the territories should receive benefits equal to those received by the states.
Action required
Perhaps more significantly, the report called for specific actions on the part of the federal government. For Puerto Rico in particular, they said that Congress should
- Enable a valid plebiscite to address the issue of Puerto Rico’s political status under the direction of Congress;
- Draft, along with representatives of each of the status options, clear and precise definitions so that the people of Puerto Rico can exercise their right to self-determination in an informed manner.
- Request the President of the United States to reestablish the White House Task Force on Puerto Rico with the representation from residents of Puerto Rico to present alternatives for the full recognition of the rights of American citizens residing in Puerto Rico.
They also proposed that the territorial government should “Require that all government officials in Puerto Rico incorporate addressing the political status and its relationship with the United States into their public policies.”
The report acknowledges that, while the Insular Cases still cause harm to residents of U.S. territories, it is the continued territory status that is the real problem. Puerto Rico, home to about 95% of all territory residents, certainly needs a permanent political status. Since voters have repeatedly chosen statehood as their preferred status, statehood is the democratically self-determined status choice of the Island. Puerto Rico should be admitted as a state as quickly as possible. Reach out to your representatives and make sure that they understand the need for statehood for Puerto Rico.
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