Ads by Google Ads by Google

Insular Cases

U.S. Supreme Court building
Providence, RHODE ISLAND — Over 3.5 million Americans currently live in the United States territories, a number that is roughly equivalent to the populations of the five smallest states combined. These residents of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the US Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana...
U.S. Supreme Court building
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The “Insular Cases were correctly decided”, and “there is no reason to question their soundness”, according to two organizations in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) that filed a joint amicus brief  — or “friends of the court” brief — in the U.S....
Puerto Rican flag
Boston, MASSACHUSETTS — May the United States rule foreign territories without granting their inhabitants constitutional rights? Yes, according to landmark Supreme Court decisions in the “Insular Cases” more than a century ago. Without those decisions, our overseas territorial empire could not...
Neil Weare
Honolulu, HAWAII — President Joe Biden’s administration is under pressure to reject racist case law that helps shape the federal government’s relationship with U.S. territories. But some residents of at least one Pacific territory are concerned about the potential implications of upending the...
U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.
Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — “The Insular Cases are the problem, not the solution,” declared local attorney Leiataua Charles V. Alailima in May 26th written testimony to the US House Committee on Natural Resources, saying that he supports H.R. 279 — “Insular Cases Resolution — pertaining to “Insular...