Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1334_8m58.pdf
Page Number: 48

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

11 

SOTOMAYOR, J., concurring in judgment 

at 670–674.  For similar reasons, this Court has recognized
on  multiple  other  occasions  that  Puerto  Rico  is  akin  to  a 
State in key respects.  See, e.g., Flores de Otero, 426 U. S., 
at 597 (Congress granted Puerto Rico “a measure of auton-
omy  comparable  to  that  possessed  by  the  States”);  Rodri-
guez, 457 U. S., at 8 (“Puerto Rico, like a state, is an auton-
omous political entity”); see also Sánchez Valle, 579 U. S., 
at ___ (BREYER, J., dissenting) (slip op., at 3) (“[T]he paral-
lels  between  admission  of  new  States  and  the  creation  of 
the Commonwealth [of Puerto Rico] are significant”).

The compact also had international ramifications, as the
Federal  Government  repeatedly  represented  at  the  time.
Shortly  after  the  ratification  and  approval  of  the  Puerto
Rico  Constitution,  federal  officials  certified  to  the  United 
Nations that, for Puerto Rico, the United States no longer 
needed to comply with certain reporting obligations under
the  United  Nations  Charter  regarding  territories  “whose 
peoples have not yet attained a full measure of self-govern-
ment.”  Charter of the United Nations, 59 Stat. 1048, Art. 
73, June 26, 1945, T. S. No. 993 (U. N. Charter).  According
to  federal  officials,  that  was  because  the  people  of  Puerto 
Rico  now  had  “complete  autonomy  in  internal  economic 
matters and in cultural and social affairs under a Constitu-
tion adopted by them and approved by the Congress.”  Mem-
orandum by the Government of the United States of Amer-
ica  Concerning 
the  Cessation  of  Transmission  of 
Information Under Article 73(e) of the Charter With Regard
to  the  Commonwealth  of  Puerto  Rico,  in  A.  Fernós-Isern, 
Original Intent in the Constitution of Puerto Rico 153 (2d 
ed.  2002).  To  the  extent  federal  law  had  previously  “di-
rected or authorized interference with matters of local gov-
ernment by the Federal Government,” federal officials elab-
orated,  “[t]hose  laws  . . .  ha[d]  been  repealed.”    Ibid.;  see 
also  ibid.  (“Congress  has  agreed  that  Puerto  Rico  shall 
have,  under  [the  Puerto  Rico]  Constitution,  freedom  from