Just weeks after the one-year anniversary of Hurricanes Maria and Irma hitting Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the issue of disenfranchisement in U.S. territories will be considered by both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Organization of American States Inter-American Commission on Human Rights\u00a0on the same day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opportunity to have either the Supreme Court or the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights take up the issue of voting rights in U.S. territories is momentous in its own right. But to have both do it on the same day is something truly special,\u201d\u00a0said Neil Weare, president and founder of Equally American, a non-profit organization that advocates for equality and civil rights for the nearly 4 million Americans who live in U.S. territories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This comes as the U.S. Senate considers whether to confirm President Trump\u2019s nomination to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Residents of U.S. territories are the\u00a0only Americans\u00a0who cannot vote for President and lack any representation in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe debate over confirming Judge Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court is just one more reminder of how nearly 4 million Americans in U.S. territories are left out of the political process, even when decisions are being made that will directly affect their lives,\u201d\u00a0Weare said.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Supreme Court will meet privately in conference on Friday, Oct. 5, to consider whether to grant review in\u00a0Segovia v. United States, a case which seeks to expand voting rights in U.S. territories. Lead plaintiff\u00a0Luis Segovia is a U.S. military veteran who served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan\u2014yet he cannot vote for President and lacks voting representation in Congress simply because he lives in Guam. <\/p>\n
Segovia and his fellow plaintiffs\u2014a group of veterans and others living in Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands\u2014would be able to vote for President and have voting representation in Congress if they lived in any other U.S. territory or even a foreign country. But under federal and state overseas voting laws, former state residents have their right to vote for President and voting representation in Congress protected if they move to certain favored territories or foreign countries, but\u00a0not\u00a0if they move to certain disfavored territories. The\u00a0Segovia\u00a0plaintiffs are seeking review of a\u00a0decision\u00a0by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit dismissing their equal protection claims earlier this year.<\/p>\n
The petition for review in\u00a0Segovia\u00a0has received significant support, including\u00a0amicus\u00a0briefs\u00a0filed by Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Prof. Samuel Issacharoff and other prominent voting rights scholars, leading constitutional law scholars, and the Virgin Islands Bar Association. The\u00a0Segovia\u00a0petition\u00a0also raises three separate \u201ccircuit splits,\u201d making it more likely that the Supreme Court could grant review.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal government\u2019s response to Hurricanes Maria and Irma has demonstrated just how important it is that Americans living in U.S. territories enjoy the same right to vote as their fellow citizens,\u201d\u00a0said Weare, who serves as counsel for the plaintiffs in\u00a0Segovia. \u201cWe hope the Supreme Court will take the opportunity to consider whether voting rights can be arbitrarily protected or denied based on where one happens to live outside the 50 states.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court could announce its decision whether to grant review in\u00a0Segovia\u00a0as early as Tuesday, Oct. 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The same day that the U.S. Supreme Court considers the petition in\u00a0Segovia v. United States, the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will hold a hearing in\u00a0Rossell\u00f3 v. United States, which argues that by denying U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico voting representation in the federal government, the United States is violating its international law obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, and other international agreements.<\/p>\n
The hearing will be held on Oct. 5, 2018, from 11:30am to 1pm. at the University of Colorado Law School. Former Puerto Rico governor Pedro Rossell\u00f3, who brought the case, has been invited by the commission to appear as a witness.<\/p>\n
In March, Equally American filed an\u00a0amicus brief\u00a0in the case on behalf of current and former elected officials in Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands, who argued that disenfranchisement in these territories similarly violates America\u2019s commitments under international law.<\/p>\n
Rossell\u00f3 v. United States\u00a0follows\u00a0Statehood Solidarity Committee v. United States, a similar case filed by advocates for equal rights in the District of Columbia in which the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights ruled in 2003 that the denial of voting representation in Congress for residents of D.C. violated the United States\u2019 international law commitments.<\/p>\n
While there is no set timeline for a decision, one is expected before the presidential elections in 2020.<\/p>\n
In all,\u00a0nearly 4 million\u00a0citizens living in U.S. territories\u2014a population greater than 21 states and larger than the five smallest states combined\u2014are denied the right to vote for President and voting representation in Congress simply because of where they happen to live. This includes more than 125,000 veterans and active duty service members living in U.S. territories, where service casualty rates range as high as seven times the national average. Decisions made by the federal government greatly impact the lives of these Americans, as highlighted by how an inadequate federal response was to Hurricanes Maria and Irma in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.\u00a0 (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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