Title: Acknowledging that the decisions rendered by the United States Supreme Court in the so-called Insular Cases rest on the same racist and ethnocentric assumptions leading to Plessy v. Ferguson's infamous "separate but equal" doctrine, that the legal doctrine emanating from the Insular Cases has no place in United States Constitutional law, and that the Insular Cases must be rejected in their entirety.
Policy area: Law

Summary:
This resolution rejects the Supreme Court's decisions in the Insular Cases (a series of cases regarding the application of constitutional rights in U.S. territories) and recognizes the importance of supporting equal rights of Americans living in the U.S. territories.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 641 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 641

Acknowledging that the decisions rendered by the United States Supreme 
   Court in the so-called Insular Cases rest on the same racist and 
   ethnocentric assumptions leading to Plessy v. Ferguson's infamous 
``separate but equal'' doctrine, that the legal doctrine emanating from 
the Insular Cases has no place in United States Constitutional law, and 
       that the Insular Cases must be rejected in their entirety.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 18, 2019

Mr. Grijalva (for himself, Miss Gonzalez-Colon of Puerto Rico, Mr. San 
    Nicolas, Mr. Sablan, and Ms. Plaskett) submitted the following 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 
 in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Acknowledging that the decisions rendered by the United States Supreme 
   Court in the so-called Insular Cases rest on the same racist and 
   ethnocentric assumptions leading to Plessy v. Ferguson's infamous 
``separate but equal'' doctrine, that the legal doctrine emanating from 
the Insular Cases has no place in United States Constitutional law, and 
       that the Insular Cases must be rejected in their entirety.

Whereas the Spanish Kingdom transferred to the United States sovereignty over 
        Puerto Rico, the Philippine Islands, and Guam pursuant to the 1898 
        Treaty of Paris, which put an end to the so-called Spanish-American War;
Whereas the newly acquired territories were non-contiguous archipelagos 
        separated by thousands of miles from the United States continental 
        mainland and inhabited by distinct nationalities made up by peoples 
        whose races, languages, cultures, and religious beliefs set them apart 
        from the dominant Anglo-Saxon societal structure then in place in the 
        United States;
Whereas the constitutional question of whether the United States Constitution 
        followed the United States flag into these new lands was answered by the 
        United States Supreme Court in a series of decisions announced in 1901 
        commonly known as the Insular Cases;
Whereas the same Fuller Court that rendered the discredited Plessy v. Ferguson 
        decision in 1896 also resolved the Insular Cases;
Whereas a fractured United States Supreme Court found that the United States 
        Constitution did not follow the United States flag into these new far-
        flung possessions;
Whereas the United States Supreme Court held that the Caribbean and Pacific 
        possessions were now unincorporated territories belonging to the United 
        States but not a part of the United States as that phrase is used in the 
        Uniformity Clause of the United States Constitution;
Whereas under the Insular Cases only those rights deemed to be fundamental apply 
        to the unincorporated territories;
Whereas notions of Anglo-Saxon racial and imperialist supremacy, together with 
        the perceived racial and cultural inferiority of non-White peoples, 
        drove the outcome of the Insular Cases;
Whereas in 1900, the Eastern Samoan Islands, now known as American Samoa, 
        transferred its sovereignty to the United States;
Whereas in 1917, Denmark transferred to the United States sovereignty of the 
        Danish West Indies, now known as the Virgin Islands of the United 
        States;
Whereas in 1976, the Northern Mariana Islands entered into a covenant with the 
        United States establishing the territory's status as a self-governing 
        commonwealth in political union with the United States;
Whereas the Insular Cases today negatively impact a community of nearly 
        4,000,000 Americans living in Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands of 
        the United States, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and 
        American Samoa;
Whereas the doctrine established by the Insular Cases is still used to 
        perpetuate the egregious unequal treatment of United States citizens and 
        nationals in the territories;
Whereas jurists and legal scholars have recognized that the Insular Cases rest 
        on reasoning that runs afoul the original intent of the framers of the 
        United States Constitution; and
Whereas the imperialist and racist ideologies underlying the Insular Cases must 
        be rejected: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) recognizes the importance of supporting equal rights 
        and upholding the interests of Americans living in the United 
        States territories;
            (2) acknowledges that the Insular Cases rest on racist and 
        imperialist assumptions that have no place in the 
        constitutional landscape of the United States; and
            (3) rejects the Insular Cases and their application to all 
        present and future cases and controversies.
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