Decolonization Models for America’s Last Colony: Puerto Rico

The Experts and the Territorial Clause

221 The Experts and the Territorial Clause March 29, 2010 The interpretation of the Territorial Clause that matters is not that of the residents of the territory, whose perspectives are colonized, but that of the members of the colonial power who run the show. The principal professors of law in Puerto Rico agree that the decision of the US Supreme Court in the Insular Cases of 1922, which defined Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory belonging to but not part of the United States, is in effect and has not been revoked. If Puerto Rico is not a territory under the Territorial Clause, why are all Puerto Rico matters handled by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, whose responsibilities include the territories? If Puerto Rico has a pact with the United States and is no longer a territory , why are its matters not handled directly by the US Department of State or the White House? Why, when discussing the inclusion of Puerto Rico in [Barack] Obama’s health reform, did they refer to the inclusion of the territories (Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, Samoa, and the Marianas)? On October 8, 2009, the House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, which is responsible for territories such as Puerto Rico, issued a report stating that the US Supreme Court had defined Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory. Nowhere does the report mention that Puerto Rico has a pact or any kind of relation in the nature of a pact with the United States. What is more, the report highlights that the Territorial Clause of the Constitution grants Congress plenary powers over the territories. It says 222  Newspaper Columns that in exercising its power, Congress can treat Puerto Rico differently from the fifty states, the District of Columbia, and the rest of the territories —that is to say, as it chooses. The report of the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democratic Party, was issued just a few months ago. In December 2007, the White House published the Report by the President ’s Task Force on Puerto Rico’s Status. Now it was the executive branch speaking, which was controlled by the Republican Party at that time. The report reaffirmed that Puerto Rico is a territory under the Territorial Clause and that the Congress has plenary power over it. The White House document says, “Thus, while the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico enjoys significant political autonomy, it is important to recognize that, as long as Puerto Rico remains a territory, its system is subject to revision by Congress.” According to the report, there are two types of property under the sovereignty of the United States: the states of the union and the territories. It also comments that the Supreme Court has determined that all lands that are not included in a state of the union must be managed by Congress (First National Bank v. Yankton County, 101 U.S. 129 [1879]). Experts in the colonial power, in the White House and the Congress, are clear about the territorial character of Puerto Rico. Only the “experts” in the territory itself remain tangled in their colonial mindset. It is a shame that these “experts” remain stuck on supposed agreements whose validity is so unreal that they are ignored by the White House and the Congress. What good does it do us to believe that Puerto Rico is not under the Territorial Clause when those in the colonial power are quite convinced of the opposite—especially when Puerto Rico’s revolving-door administrations validate Congress’s position by submitting themselves to the committees in charge of territories? The twenty-first century requires clear definitions and practical models based on a new political, economic, and social structure with the inherent powers that sovereignty can provide. ...