American Samoa’s delegation during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on July 23, 2021. The Insular Cases, which deny citizens of Puerto Rico and four other US territories full constitutional rights, remain good law after the US Supreme Court denied review of a case involving birthright citizenship. Florida International University College of Law’s Ediberto Román looks at the flawed logic used by the court and argues the time is now to overturn these centuries-old cases. Normally, when the US Supreme Court denies a certiorari petition, such a decision isn’t noteworthy. However, when a denial endorses racism, colonialism, and subjugation of millions of US citizens, that is worthy of mention, and condemnation. In Fitisemanu v. United States , the high court was asked to overturn early 20th-century rulings known as the Insular Cases . John Fitisemanu, who was living in Utah, was born in American Samoa. His US passport noted that he was a non-citizen US national, and he argued that people born in the unincorporated territory are entitled to “birthright citizenship,” which is automatic for those born on US soil. To clarify, all US citizens are US nationals, but not all US nationals are US citizens […]
