The New York City Bar Association joins with the American Bar Association and the New York State Bar Association in calling on the Biden Administration, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the harmful effects of the so-called “Insular Cases,” which deprive the residents of U.S. territories of the most basic rights of American citizenship and are anathema to democratic principles.

Following the end of the Spanish American War, in 1898, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a series of opinions relating to the rights of residents of the territories annexed by the United States after the war. To what extent the U.S. Constitution applied to residents of these territories was debated in Congress, within the executive branch, and decided by the Court in cases referred to as the “Insular Cases.” The Insular Cases stand for the proposition that not all parts of the federal Constitution apply to the U.S. territories, and perpetuate undemocratic and unjust treatment. These cases sanction the imposition of different categories of U.S. citizenship on residents of the territories where the United States exercises sovereignty. They further permit discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity. The decisions are outdated, abhorrent, and should be reversed.

The Insular Cases