Civil rights groups call on House to do something about racist island cases

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WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 17: United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) delivers remarks from the Chambers of the United States Capitol on November 17, 2022 in Washington, DC. Pelosi spoke about the future of her leadership plans in the House of Representatives and said she would not seek a leadership role in the upcoming Congress.

As the Democratic House majority ends its term before Republicans take over, civil rights groups are calling on representatives to do something about the island cases, according to The Hill.

In 2021, a resolution was introduced to overturn a series of Supreme Court decisions from the early 1900s that limited the extension of constitutional rights to certain U.S. territories. The resolution would recognize equal rights for all residents of these places. However, this would not change the legal outcome of previous Supreme Court decisions.

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From the Hill:

This bipartisan resolution presents a historic opportunity for the House to reject racist island affairs and their doctrine of territorial incorporation, which established what has been criticized as a doctrine of separate and unequal status for the 3.6 million people of the US territories, 98% of which are people of color, the groups wrote.

While both liberal and conservative Supreme Court justices have recently criticized the island cases as abhorrent and misguided and the rest[ing] on a rotten basis, the Supreme Court has repeatedly passed up opportunities to reconsider these controversial cases.

The Supreme Court had two opportunities to challenge these opinions and ultimately dismissed them outright. In October 2021, the High Court declined to rule on a case involving a US national from American Samoa who was applying for US citizenship. Then, the following month, they refused to hear another case involving an organization of Puerto Rican teachers seeking equal treatment in retirement benefits. Advocates led by the ACLU believe that if the House passed this resolution, it would raise awareness.

As the Supreme Court recently dodged two opportunities to overturn the Island cases, it is more important than ever for the House to make it clear that the racist Island cases and the colonial framework they established should have no role in the United States. United Today, said Neil Weare. , president and founder of Equally American, a group that champions equality for residents of the territories.

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