Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1334_8m58.pdf
Page Number: 54

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

17 

SOTOMAYOR, J., concurring in judgment 

also  supra,  at  4–5,  9–12,  Puerto  Rico  can  well  remain  a 
“Territory” subject to some measure of Congress’ Territories
Clause authority.  But even assuming that the Territories
Clause  thus  enables  Congress  to  enact  federal  laws  “re-
specting”  Puerto  Rico,  U. S.  Const.,  Art.  IV,  §3,  cl. 2,  still 
some things the Clause does not necessarily do:  It does not 
necessarily allow Congress to repeal by mere implication its
prior  grant  of  authority  to  the  people  of  Puerto  Rico  to 
choose their own governmental officers.  It does not neces-
sarily  give  Congress  license  to  revoke  unilaterally  an  in-
strument  that  may  be  altered  only  with  mutual  consent.
And it does not necessarily permit Congress to declare by
fiat that the law must treat its exercise of authority under 
the Territories Clause as territorial rather than federal, ir-
respective  of  the  compact  it  entered  with  the  people  of 
Puerto Rico leaving complete territorial authority to them. 
Cf. Hernández Colón, The Evolution of Democratic Govern-
ance Under the Territorial Clause of the U. S. Constitution, 
50 Suffolk U. L. Rev. 587, 605 (2017) (after 1952, “Congress 
partially  relinquished  its  territorial  powers  over  Puerto 
Rico’s internal affairs, as recognized in Sanchez Valle,” even 
while  “Congress  continues  to  retain  territorial  powers  in 
federal affairs” (emphasis added)). 

III 
Nor  is  it  significant  that  Congress  has  historically  pro-
vided for the appointment of officers who perform duties re-
lated to the Territories through methods other than those 
prescribed  by  the  Appointments  Clause.    Those  methods 
may be permissible up to a point in a Territory’s develop-
ment.  But that historical practice does not, in my view, re-
solve the far more complex question whether Congress can 
continue  to  act  in  that  manner  indefinitely  or  long  after 
granting Territories complete self-government.

Essentially none (if any) of the allegedly nonconforming