Supreme Court Denies Appeal in American Samoan Citizenship Case
On October 16, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case regarding the citizenship status of American Samoans, who are considered US nationals. The case has broad implications upon all people born in American Samoa and any future US territories, not simply as to their citizenship status, but as to their rights and protections as a whole. The case arose when 3 American Samoans living in Utah filed a lawsuit claiming that their status as US nationals and not citizens violates the Constitution and deprives them of their rights to vote, run for public office, and hold certain jobs1. American Samoa is the only US territory not fully incorporated, meaning that people born in every other US territory are granted citizenship, but American Samoans are considered US nationals.
The 14th Amendment states that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”2. Though it appears the question of citizenship is directly answered – American Samoa is a US territory and the amendment clearly states people born in US cases are US citizens – the relevant common law is marred in the Territorial Incorporation Doctrine and racism. Between 1901 and 1922, the Supreme Court decided a series of cases that would collectively become known as the Insular Cases. These cases dealt not only with citizenship specifically, but the role of the Constitution and the subsequent rights and protections within US territories. These cases arose when the US officially gained many territories in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War. In one of the most important cases, Downes v. Bidwell, Justice Edward Douglass White’s concurring opinion (there was no majority opinion) laid the foundation for the Incorporation Doctrine. He states that the Constitution is only applicable when Congress decides to fully “incorporate” a territory into the US3. This answer, essentially ceding to Congress the unilateral power to decide the role of the territory within the US leaves the inhabitants in legal limbo: They are US nationals, but not citizens.
In addition to the Territorial Incorporation Doctrine, the Insular Cases have been highly criticized for their use of racism and stereotypes. In a concurring opinion in US v. Vaello Madero, Justice Neil Gorsuch stated that “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”4. By denying the writ of certiorari and leaving the question of citizenship up to Congress, the Supreme Court denied an opportunity to overturn the very cases a sitting Justice has deemed racist and, in doing so, has perpetuated the pervasive and impactful legal repercussions of decisions not founded within the Constitution.
For its part, Congress has introduced legislation, House Resolution 279, which bans the use of the Insular cases in contemporary and future legal decisions due to its racism. The resolution states that the Insular cases “rest on racial views and stereotypes from the era of Plessy v. Ferguson that have long been rejected, are contrary to our Nation’s most basic constitutional and democratic principles, and should be rejected as having no place in United States constitutional law”5. The resolution has four major legislative resolutions, which are that Congress “(1) recognizes that America’s constitutional and democratic principles apply throughout the United States, including both States and territories; (2) acknowledges that the Insular Cases are contrary to the text and history of the Constitution; (3) acknowledges that the Insular Cases are relics of the racial views of an earlier era that have no place in our Nation today; and (4) rejects the Insular Cases and their application to all present and future cases and controversies involving the application of the Constitution in United States territories”6. This would eliminate judicial decisions that are dripping in racism and lacking in Constitutional justifications. As of publication, this bill has not passed. One can only hope that in time a future court or Congress will correct this grave error and give full rights, including citizenship, to those born in US territories. Until then, the true power of the Constitution and the 14th Amendment’s citizenship clause will ring hollow and the racism with which those rights have been denied will permeate and continue to stain the country.
