Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1334_8m58.pdf
Page Number: 42

Cite as:  590 U. S. ____ (2020) 

5 

SOTOMAYOR, J., concurring in judgment 

grant[ing] Puerto Rico a measure of autonomy comparable 
to that possessed by the States.”  Examining Bd. of Engi-
neers, Architects and Surveyors v. Flores de Otero, 426 U. S. 
572, 597 (1976).  Indeed, the very “purpose of Congress in 
the 1950 and 1952 legislation was to accord Puerto Rico the 
degree of autonomy and independence normally associated
with States of the Union.”  Id., at 594; see also S. Rep. No. 
1779,  81st  Cong.,  2d  Sess.,  2  (1950)  (Public  Law  600  was 
“designed to complete the full measure of local self-govern-
ment in” Puerto Rico); H. R. Rep. No. 2275, 81st Cong., 2d
Sess., 6 (1950) (Public Law 600 was a “reaffirmation by the 
Congress of the self-government principle”).1  The upshot is
that “Puerto Rico, like a State, is an autonomous political 
entity, ‘ “sovereign over matters not ruled by the [Federal] 
Constitution.” ’ ”  Rodriguez  v.  Popular  Democratic  Party, 
457 U. S. 1, 8 (1982) (quoting Calero-Toledo, 416 U. S., at 
673).  And only by holding out that guarantee to the United 
Nations has the Federal Government been able to disclaim 
certain  continuing  obligations  it  previously  owed  with  re-
spect to Puerto Rico under the United Nations Charter.  See 
infra, at 11–12. 

B 
In the decades that followed, Puerto Rico underwent fur-
ther changes as a Commonwealth.  For many years, the is-
land experienced dynamic growth, increasing its gross na-
tional  product  more  than  fourfold  from  1950  to  1971. 
Cheatham,  Council  on  Foreign  Relations,  Puerto  Rico:  A
U. S. Territory in Crisis (Feb. 13, 2020).  In 1976, after the 

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1 To be sure, Public Law 600 reserved certain limited powers to Con-
gress (some of which were soon repealed).  See ante, at 12–13.  But those 
narrow reservations of federal control did not purport to diminish the full 
measure  of  territorial  self-governance  conferred  upon  the  people  of
Puerto Rico through Public Law 600 and the Puerto Rico Constitution.
See 39 Stat. 953; 64 Stat. 319–320.