(PatrioticPost.com)- The American Bar Association unanimously approved a resolution on Tuesday rejecting the so-called Insular Cases, a string of Supreme Court rulings that limited the rights of American citizens in areas where their race was a significant factor.
According to reports, the attorneys’ guild’s action is crucial because it raises the question of whether the Supreme Court can consider the issue. Additionally, it increases the pressure on the Biden administration to state its stance in an American Samoan lawsuit that the Supreme Court may soon take up. The case could reverse the rulings and give the 3.6 million Americans born in territories full constitutional privileges.
According to those who favor reversing the Insular Cases, the century-old resolutions are damaging due to their present ramifications and their allegedly discriminatory justification. The case in question, Fitisemanu v. the United States, was filed by American Samoan individuals who do not possess full citizenship in the United States.
American Samoans are nationals of the United States but not citizens. Therefore even if they move in with a state’s population, they cannot cast ballots in state or federal elections.
All constitutional rights are available to natives of other territories as long as they first relocate to a state.
Differences in recognized Constitutional rights within each territory are generally based on each individual’s history of dependence upon the acquisition by the United States.
According to historical documents, Spain gave up Puerto Rico and Guam following the Spanish-American War. The United States bought the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark. The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands negotiated the terms of its territorial status as part of the dissolution of the post-World War II Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. American Samoa became a U.S. territory due to a territorial dispute between the United States and Germany in the South Pacific.
Some communities inside the territories oppose the abolition of the Insular Cases because of these historical distinctions. More on that here.
