IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 279 
Acknowledging that the United States Supreme Court’s decisions in the 
Insular Cases and the ‘‘territorial incorporation doctrine’’ are contrary 
to the text and history of the United States Constitution, rest on racial 
views and stereotypes from the era of Plessy v. Ferguson that have 
long been rejected, are contrary to our Nation’s most basic constitutional 
and democratic principles, and should be rejected as having no place 
in United States constitutional law. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 26, 2021 
Mr. GRIJALVA (for himself, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, 
Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, and 
Mr. TORRES of New York) submitted the following resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Com-
mittee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Acknowledging that the United States Supreme Court’s deci-
sions in the Insular Cases and the ‘‘territorial incorpora-
tion doctrine’’ are contrary to the text and history of 
the United States Constitution, rest on racial views and 
stereotypes from the era of Plessy v. Ferguson that 
have long been rejected, are contrary to our Nation’s 
most basic constitutional and democratic principles, and 
should be rejected as having no place in United States 
constitutional law. 
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•HRES 279 IH 
Whereas territories have been an important part of the 
United States since the beginning of our Nation, starting 
with the Northwest Territory in 1787, with Chief Justice 
John Marshall writing for the Supreme Court in 1820 
that ‘‘the United States’’ is ‘‘the name given to our great 
republic, which is composed of States and territories’’ 
(Loughborough v. Blake, 18 U.S. (5 Wheat.) 317, 319 
(1820)); 
Whereas today the United States has 5 populated territories, 
American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern 
Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Is-
lands of the United States, which together have a popu-
lation of over 3,500,000 residents, equal to the popu-
lation of the 5 smallest States combined, more than 95 
percent of whom are racial or ethnic minorities; 
Whereas Puerto Rico and Guam have now been a part of the 
United States since 1898, American Samoa since 1900, 
the Virgin Islands of the United States since 1917, and 
the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands 
since 1986; 
Whereas until the Insular Cases were decided in the early 
1900s, the Supreme Court long recognized that Congress’ 
powers over the territories, while broad, were ‘‘not abso-
lute and unlimited’’, but rather subject ‘‘to such restric-
tions as are expressed in the Constitution’’ (Murphy v. 
Ramsey, 114 U.S. 15, 44 (1885)); 
Whereas following the acquisition of Hawaii, Puerto Rico, 
Guam, and other overseas territories in 1898, the Su-
preme Court’s decisions in the Insular Cases broke from 
its prior precedent to establish a doctrine of territorial in-
corporation, creating for the first time a distinction be-
tween so-called ‘‘incorporated’’ territories, where the 
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