what i appreciate about this discussion is that it is being conducted by people who demonstrate a great deal of concern for the issues involved both the subtleties and the sweep of the issue i believe this is appropriate though admittedly tiring because in legal matters a great deal often hinges on a comma or the inclusion exclusion of the word not or other such maddening technicalities ergo shakespeare's famous dictum about lawyers consejo de salud playa de ponce v rullan does provide federal precedent and a framework for discussion and debate however the rullan ruling is not ultimately dispositive of a u s constitutional question or territorial status issue since the u s supreme court is the court of ultimate and binding jurisdiction in both of these areas the language of the rullan ruling did not grant full constitutional privileges to puerto ricans living on the island itself as opposed to those living on the mainland the rullan court stated that congress today thus must afford puerto rico and the united states citizens residing therein all constitutional guarantees however as stated earlier puerto rico is subject to the u s congress' plenary powers under the territorial clause of article iv sec of the u s constitution u s const art iv cl the congress shall have power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the united states the rullan ruling occurred in three years later in insular puerto ricans have neither u s congresspersons nor u s senators and they cannot vote for a u s president therefore insular puerto ricans are not fully enfranchised u s citizens and they have not been extended enjoyment of all rights and obligations under the u s constitution it is thus clear that in the exercise of its plenary powers the u s congress has chosen to ignore the rullan ruling the operative word in this discussion and i understand the frustration on both sides is the usage of the word must in the rullan ruling as forceful as that word sounds it was mis used by the rullan court because the u s congress clearly ignored it again a lower federal court is not the court of ultimate jurisdiction for the issues addressed by rullan the u s congress ignored it puerto ricans on the island are not fully enfranchised and therefore do not have enjoyment of all rights and obligations under the u s constitution i hope this helps your process of consensus i provided it in that spirit