Integrity Score 1712
No Records Found
No Records Found
No Records Found
The 4 million inhabitants of five U.S. territories – Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Northern Marianas Islands, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands – do not have the full protection of the Constitution, because of a series of Supreme Court cases dating back to 1901 that are based on archaic, often racist language and reasoning.
No U.S. citizen living in any of those places can vote for president. They don’t have a voting representative in Congress, either.
But this inferiority is inconsistent. Puerto Ricans are American citizens and can vote in federal elections if they reside in a U.S. state – but not if they live in Puerto Rico or one of the other territories.
However, American Samoans are not U.S. citizens, so they can’t vote for president even if they live in the 50 states. That is being challenged in federal courts.
Follow full story at The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/century-old-racist-us-supreme-court-cases-still-rule-over-millions-of-americans-167091
Image courtesy: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-walk-through-the-el-morro-national-monument-in-old-news-photo/1308296260