WASHINGTON D.C.\u2014Natural Resources Committee chair Rep. Ra\u00fal M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) introduced Friday a\u00a0bipartisan resolution\u00a0rejecting the early 20th century U.S. Supreme Court decisions referred to as the\u00a0Insular Cases. The resolution argues that these cases rely on a racist,\u00a0Plessy-era doctrine of \u201cseparate and unequal\u201d to establish the relationship between the United States and its territories, made clear by the inclusion of deeply offensive language such as \u201calien races\u201d and \u201cpeople with an uncivilized race\u201d when referring to the people living in U.S. territories.<\/p>\n
Grijalva\u2019s resolution was introduced with Rep. Gregorio Sablan (D-CNMI), Rep. Stacey Plaskett (D-USVI), Rep. Michael San Nicolas (D-Guam), Rep. Jenniffer Gonz\u00e1lez-Colon (R-P.R.), Rep. Nydia Vel\u00e1zquez (D-N.Y.), Rep. Jes\u00fas \u201cChuy\u201d Garc\u00eda (D-Ill.) and Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) <\/p>\n
H. Res. 279\u2014the full text of which is available online at\u00a0https:\/\/bit.ly\/3u9UYDL\u2014calls on the courts, the U.S. Department of Justice, and other litigants to reject any continued reliance on the\u00a0Insular Cases\u00a0in present and future cases because the racially grounded holdings in the\u00a0Insular Cases\u00a0are contrary to the text and history of the Constitution and have no modern relevance. <\/p>\n
The legacy of the\u00a0Insular Cases\u2014an\u00a0unequal legal and political relationship between the U.S. and the territories\u2014continues to threaten the\u00a0rights and interests of Americans living in the territories.<\/p>\n
Part of this legacy is evident in the continued exclusion of U.S. citizens living in the territories from essential federal programs and benefits\u2014an exclusion that multiple federal courts have questioned in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In\u00a0United States v. Vaello Madero, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit unanimously declared unconstitutional the denial of Supplemental Security Income benefits to U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico. The U.S. Supreme Court has taken this case up for review, with argument likely set for October 2021.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In\u00a0Schaller v. U.S. Social Security Administration, a federal district court judge delivered a similar ruling for residents in Guam.<\/p>\n
\u2022 In\u00a0Pe\u00f1a Mart\u00ednez v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Service, declared unconstitutional not just the exclusion of Puerto Rico residents from SSI, but also their exclusion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicare Part D low-income subsidies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ongoing discrimination against citizens in U.S. territories reinforces the need to stop relying on the discredited assumptions about the people living in U.S. territories and antiquated notions of racial inferiority on which they were based.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u2018Insular Cases,\u2019 decided in 1901 by the same Supreme Court that upheld segregation laws, have no place in modern day America,\u201d Sablan\u00a0said. \u201cIn these cases, the Supreme Court calls people living in U.S. territories \u2018alien\u2019 and \u2018savage and restless people,\u2019 antiquated notions of racial inferiority that should not be the basis of any contemporary court decisions. Our resolution recognizes these racist and imperialist assumptions for what they are. It rejects the Insular Cases and affirms the importance of equal rights for Americans everywhere, even in the U.S. insular areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resolution is supported by Equally American, a non-partisan organization that advocates for equal rights and representation for the 3.5 million citizens living in U.S. territories, and the\u00a0American Civil Liberties Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Insular Cases are some of the most unrepentantly racist and doctrinally flawed decisions ever handed down by our nation\u2019s highest court,\u201d\u00a0Equally American\u00a0said in a statement yesterday. \u201cThey effectively stripped the residents of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands of their constitutional and democratic rights in ways that are fundamentally incompatible with the guiding principles that the United States was founded upon. That they endure is both a regrettable legacy of racial injustice and an example of judicial inertia in spite of evolving standards of decency and fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Supreme Court’s early 1900s \u2018Insular Cases\u2019 rest on explicit white supremacist beliefs of non-white people\u2019s inferiority,\u201d said\u00a0Adriel Cepeda Derieux, senior staff attorney at the ACLU. \u201cThey are dangerous relics that stand for the continued second-class status of millions of American citizens. We must reject and eradicate the Insular Cases from law.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grijalva and the Natural Resources Committee plan to host a legislative hearing in May to discuss the resolution. (PR)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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