Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-303_6khn.pdf
Page Number: 3.0

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 20–303 
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UNITED STATES, PETITIONER v. 
JOSE LUIS VAELLO MADERO 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT 

[April 21, 2022] 

JUSTICE KAVANAUGH delivered the opinion of the Court. 
The United States includes five Territories: American Sa-
moa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U. S. Virgin
Islands, and Puerto Rico.  This case involves Puerto Rico, 
which became a U. S. Territory in 1898 in the wake of the 
Spanish-American War.

For various historical and policy reasons, including local
autonomy,  Congress  has  not  required  residents  of  Puerto 
Rico  to  pay  most  federal  income,  gift,  estate,  and  excise 
taxes.  Congress has likewise not extended certain federal 
benefits programs to residents of Puerto Rico. 

The  question  presented  is  whether  the  equal-protection
component  of  the  Fifth  Amendment’s  Due  Process  Clause
requires Congress to make Supplemental Security Income
benefits  available  to  residents  of  Puerto  Rico  to  the  same 
extent that Congress makes those benefits available to res-
idents of the States.  In light of the text of the Constitution, 
longstanding  historical  practice,  and  this  Court’s  prece-
dents, the answer is no.