Three American Samoans, in ask for birthright citizenship, answer Gorsuch’s call for a chance to overturn Insular Cases

https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21-1394.html

The last two links are to the Supreme Court docket and to the Petition for a Writ of Certiorari, which was filed on April 27th.

Case name is Fitisemanu v United States.

The question presented and the preamble to that question:

“The United States includes five Territories.” United States v. Vaello Madero, 596 U.S. ___, slip op. at 3 (2022). And the Citizenship Clause declares that those born “in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. But a divided panel of the Tenth Circuit held that so-called “unincorporated” Territories are not “in the United States” within the meaning of the Citizenship Clause. To reach this conclusion, the panel majority expanded and “repurposed” the Insular Cases, Pet.App.17a, in direct conflict with this Court’s recent affirmation “that the Insular Cases should not be further extended,” Fin. Oversight & Mgmt. Bd. v. Aurelius Inv., LLC, 140 S. Ct. 1649, 1665 (2020) (citing Reid v. Covert, 354 U.S. 1, 14 (1957) (plurality opinion)).

The question presented is:

Whether persons born in United States Territories are entitled to birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, including whether the Insular Cases should be overruled.

Gorsuch recently made the call in a concurrence in a case just decided that the Insular Cases must fall.

This is the perfect vehicle to overturn the Insular Cases.

The Supreme Court should take this case. They should rule completely and broadly for the Petitioners and they should explicitly overturn ALL of the Insular Cases in their entirety.

Link to the Supreme Court decision containing Gorsuch’s concurrence calling for the overturning of the Insular Cases. The concurrence begins at page 24 of the 48 page pdf document.

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A very interesting case. I fail to understand the foundations of the lone dissenting opinion, unless one accepts that precedent, even when based on bigotry, is all that matters.

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JUSTICE GORSUCH, concurring.

A century ago in the Insular Cases, this Court held that the federal government could rule Puerto Rico and other
Territories largely without regard to the Constitution. It is past time to acknowledge the gravity of this error and admit
what we know to be true: The Insular Cases have no foundation in the Constitution and rest instead on racial stereotypes. They deserve no place in our law.

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Agree. It is well past the time for 2nd class citizenship. All in or all out.

Cut them loose.

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Yeah it’s a bit weird. If they are going to remain a territory of the United States than American Samoans should be citizens.

depends on what the meaning of “in” is. i have no dog in the fight and don’t care which way the court goes. typically in reading the constitution “the united states” refers to the actual states. would be easy to understand the meaning of “in the united states” to be in a state. that would exclude the territories. equally, it’s easy to understand “in the united states” to mean anywhere the united states has jurisdiction. that however makes the second requirement “and under the jurisdiction” redundant and unnecessary, which of course it would be also if one were born in a state unless the person being born is under a foreign jurisdiction by diplomatic agreement or convention. in either case the question of jurisdiction is irrelevant to this case and it hinges on what is meant by “in the united states”.

how long until the flag has 52 stars?

Agreed. We don’t need them. Set them free. Get a puppy instead.

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I don’t see the point of having “territories” and how that benefits the American People?

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These islands likely take more money in than they produce. Cut the baggage loose.

The territories are relics of a bygone era.

Early 20th century. US defeated Spain in the first major war of the 20th century. We took all of their overseas territories.

We also had individual business guys going out and claiming islands as our own during the late 19th century. They’d move in, establish productive businesses, get a bunch of CONUS Americans to emigrate to the islands, vote to become a territory and crush any resistance from the locals.

That’s how we ended up with places like Hawaii, Samoa, Puerto Rico, Micronesia, the Philippines until 1946, and Guantanamo Bay. It was an age of empire, and the upper crust of American society including many politicians felt like we needed to compete with the British, French, Germans, and Belgians. The American Empire ended up spanning across the Pacific and Caribbean.

Thing was, these places ended up being monetary drains pretty quick. No different than today really. In the case of the Philippines, it turned into a decade long counter insurgency that left thousands of American troops and hundreds of thousands Filipinos dead.

The American people weren’t really thrilled by the idea of managing a large empire (most of the US population has always been anti-colonialism) so it was always controversial. Hawaii stuck around mainly because we built a naval base there; weren’t gonna give that up. The rest have long been a headache to manage. Philippines reverted to native control in 1946. We still have the rest.

They should have been cut loose post World War II, with free trade and defense compacts erected in place of direct management. But for one reason or another, they’re still hitched to the American wagon.

guam and somoa project american power in the pacific.

:rofl: What!?

Politicians don’t like letting go of things, likely the reason.

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The Insular Cases created this whole notion of incorporated and non-incorporated territories, a distinction not found in the Constitution, but invented to justify the American Colonialism of the era.

Just made up from scratch, like evolving standards of decency, ad naseum.

American Samoa and the United States Virgin Islands would be prime candidates for full independence, with a Compact of Free Association.

Interestingly, if you read the Tenth Circuit’s opinion in this case, found in the appendix which is accessible from the Supreme Court docket (linked in the OP), you will find that it depends start to end on the Insular Cases.

So does that mean we can save 26 billion dollars and cut two aircraft carriers?

https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/21-1394.html

UPDATE: Five Petition stage amici briefs have been filed in this case. They are available via the above link.

The Justices have extended the time to file a Petition stage reply brief from the Respondents until June 30th.

The case will be fully briefed and ready for consideration at the “Long Conference” at the end of September.

Amici to this point are unanimous that American Samoans should be granted citizenship and almost unanimous that the Insular Cases should be unconditionally and completely overturned.

EDIT TO ADD: No amici support the Insular Cases, they simply don’t address the Insular Cases in their briefs.