Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-303_6khn.pdf
Page Number: 24

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

1 

GORSUCH, J., concurring 

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 GORSUCH, concurring. 
A century ago in the Insular Cases, this Court held that 
the  federal  government  could  rule  Puerto  Rico  and  other
Territories largely without regard to the Constitution.  It is 
past time to acknowledge the gravity of this error and admit 
what we know to be true:  The Insular Cases have no foun-
dation in the Constitution and rest instead on racial stere-
otypes.  They deserve no place in our law. 

I 
The  Insular  Cases  were  the  product  of  what  John  Hay
called a “ ‘splendid little war.’ ”  F. Freidel, The Splendid Lit-
tle War 3 (1958) (quoting letter from J. Hay to T. Roosevelt).
Ostensibly waged to liberate Cuba and avenge the sinking
of the Maine, the Spanish-American War proved a boon for 
the  country’s  burgeoning  colonial  ambitions. 
See 
J. Cabranes,  Citizenship  and  the  American  Empire,  127 
U. Pa. L. Rev. 391, 392–395, and nn. 3–4 (1978) (Cabranes);
K. Wenzer, Theodore Roosevelt and the United States Bat-
tleship Maine, 9 Fed. Hist. 111, 113–116, 124–128 (2017). 
The aging Spanish empire was in no position to defend its
island  possessions,  and  several  fell  to  American  forces  in 
quick succession.  See G. Lawson & G. Seidman, The Con-
stitution  of  Empire:    Territorial  Expansion  and  American
Legal History 111 (2004) (Lawson & Seidman).  Under the