Rejecting the “Insular Cases”

Addressing America’s legacy of racism is the purpose of H. Res. 279, the “Insular Cases Resolution,” and the reason for Wednesday’s hearing on the bill. The bipartisan resolution, introduced by Natural Resources Committee Chair Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), places the House of Representatives on record as rejecting the racist reasoning of the Insular Cases – a series of Supreme Court decisions made beginning in 1901 concerning the constitutional rights afforded to residents in U.S. overseas territories.

For over a century, these rulings have been used to block equal treatment under the law and access to essential federal programs for the people in the U.S. insular areas. They are long overdue to be overturned. This must be done, however, as I explained in my opening statement, with respect for each territory.

The Insular Cases have been used to preserve the local Matai culture in American Samoa, for instance, and to justify the restrictions on land ownership in Article XII of the Northern Marianas Constitution. But given recent rulings on the illegitimacy of policies based on racial classifications and given the conservative makeup of the current judiciary, reliance on the Insular Cases to defend Article XII seems unwise.

One of the hearing witnesses, former Saipan resident, Professor Rose Cuison-Villazor shared that assessment. Watch our exchange here.