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FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT AND MANAGEMENT BD. FOR 
PUERTO RICO v. AURELIUS INVESTMENT, LLC 
THOMAS, J., concurring in judgment 

Because  territorial  governments  “are  not  organized  un-
der the Constitution,” they are not “subject to its complex
distribution of the powers of government.”  Ibid.  Congress
may give Territories “a legislative, an executive, and a judi-
ciary, with such powers as it has been their will to assign.” 
Sere, 6 Cranch, at 337.  And, since the founding, Congress
has done so in ways that do not comport with the Constitu-
tion’s restrictions on the National Government.  For exam-
ple, Congress has delegated Article IV legislative authority 
to territorial officials and legislatures,2 which it could not 
—————— 
579 U. S. ___, ___ (2016) (slip op., at 15) (internal quotation marks omit-
ted).  Congress is the source of the “entire dominion and sovereignty” of 
a Territory, Simms v. Simms, 175 U. S. 162, 168 (1899), and therefore 
all territorial laws, whether congressionally enacted or territorially en-
acted, derive from Article IV, Sánchez Valle, 579 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 
15) (recognizing that the “most immediate source of [the] authority” does 
not change the nature of the power exercised). 

2 See, e.g., Act of Aug. 7, 1789, 1 Stat. 51, and n. (a) (Northwest Terri-
tory); Act of May 26, 1790, ch. 14, §1, 1 Stat. 123 (Southwest Territory);
Act of Apr. 7, 1798, §3, 1 Stat. 550 (Mississippi); Act of May 7, 1800, §§2, 
4, 2 Stat. 59 (Indiana); Act of Mar. 26, 1804, §4, 2 Stat. 284 (Louisiana); 
Act of Jan. 11, 1805, ch. 5, §2, 2 Stat. 309 (Michigan); Act of Mar. 2, 1805, 
§§1, 2, 2 Stat. 322 (Orleans); Act of Feb. 3, 1809, §§2, 4, 2 Stat. 515 (Illi-
nois); Act of June 4, 1812, §4, 2 Stat. 744 (Missouri); Act of Mar. 3, 1817,
§4, 3 Stat. 372 (Alabama); Act of Mar. 2, 1819, §5, 3 Stat. 494 (Arkansas); 
Act of Mar. 30, 1822,  §5, 3 Stat. 655 (Florida); Act of Mar. 3, 1823, §5, 3
Stat. 751 (Florida); Act of Apr. 20, 1836, §4, 5 Stat. 12 (Wisconsin); Act
of June 12, 1838, §4, 5 Stat. 236 (Iowa); Act of Aug. 14, 1848, §4, 9 Stat. 
324  (Oregon);  Act  of  Mar.  3,  1849,  §4,  9  Stat.  404  (Minnesota);  Act  of
Sept. 9, 1850, §5, 9 Stat. 448 (New Mexico); Act of Sept. 9, 1850, §4, 9
Stat. 454 (Utah); Act of Mar. 2, 1853, §4, 10 Stat. 173 (Washington); Act
of May 30, 1854, §§4–6, 22–24, 10 Stat. 278–279, 284–285 (Nebraska and 
Kansas); Act of Feb. 28, 1861, §4, 12 Stat. 173 (Colorado); Act of Mar. 2, 
1861, §4, 12 Stat. 210–211 (Nevada); Act of Mar. 2, 1861, §4, 12 Stat. 240
(Dakota); Act of Feb. 24, 1863, ch. 56, §2, 12 Stat. 665 (Arizona); Act of 
Mar. 3, 1863, §4, 12 Stat. 809 (Idaho); Act of May 26, 1864, §4, 13 Stat. 
87 (Montana); Act of July 25, 1868, §4, 15 Stat. 179 (Wyoming); Act of
May 2, 1890, §4, 26 Stat. 83 (Oklahoma); Act of Apr. 12, 1900, §27, 31 
Stat. 82 (Puerto Rico); Act of Apr. 30, 1900, §12, 31 Stat. 144 (Hawaii); 
Act of July 1, 1902, §7, 32 Stat. 693–694 (Philippines); Act of Aug. 24, 
1912, §4, 37 Stat. 513 (Alaska); Act of June 22, 1936, §5, 49 Stat. 1808