Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1334_8m58.pdf
Page Number: 15.0

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

11 

Opinion of the Court 

vided  by  the  elected,  lower  house.    And  it  created  magis-
trates appointed by the Governor.  See Act of Aug. 7, 1789, 
1 Stat. 51, n. (a).

The practice of creating by federal law local offices for the
Territories and District of Columbia that are filled through 
election or local executive appointment has continued una-
bated for more than two centuries.  See, e.g., ibid. (North-
west Territories local offices filled by election); Act of Apr. 
7, 1798, §3, 1 Stat. 550 (Mississippi, same); Act of May 7, 
1800, §2, 2 Stat. 59 (Indiana, same); Act of May 15, 1820, 
§3, 3 Stat. 584 (District of Columbia, same); Act of Apr. 30, 
1900, §13, 31 Stat. 144 (Hawaii, same); Act of Aug. 24, 1912,
§4, 37 Stat. 513 (Alaska, same); Act of Aug. 23, 1968, §4, 82
Stat. 837 (Virgin Islands, same); Act of Sept. 11, 1968, Pub. 
L.  90–497,  §1,  82  Stat.  842  (Guam,  same);  Act  of  May  4,
1812, §3, 2 Stat. 723 (D. C. mayor appoints “all offices”); Act 
of June 4, 1812, §2, 2 Stat. 744 (Missouri Governor, similar); 
Act of Mar. 2, 1819, §3, 3 Stat. 494 (Arkansas, similar); Act 
of  June  6,  1900,  §2,  31  Stat.  322  (Alaska,  similar);  Act  of
Sept.  11,  1968,  §1,  82  Stat.  843  (Guam,  similar).  Like 
JUSTICE  THOMAS,  post,  at  6  (opinion  concurring  in  judg-
ment), we think the practice of the First Congress is strong
evidence of the original meaning of the Constitution.  We 
find this subsequent history similarly illuminates the text’s
meaning.

Puerto  Rico’s  history  is  no  different.    It  reveals  a 
longstanding practice of selecting public officials with im-
portant  local  responsibilities  in  ways  that  the  Appoint-
ments Clause does not describe.  In 1898, at the end of the 
Spanish-American War, the United States took responsibil-
ity for determining the civil rights of Puerto Ricans as well 
as  Puerto  Rico’s  political  status.    Treaty  of  Paris,  Art.  9, 
Dec. 10, 1898, 30 Stat. 1759.  In 1900, the Foraker Act pro-
vided for Presidential appointment (with Senate confirma-
tion)  of  Puerto  Rico’s  Governor,  the  heads  of  six  depart-
ments, the legislature’s upper house, and the justices of its