Mark Sherman
Supreme Court of the United States (Source: supremecourt.gov)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Oct. 17 rejected an appeal seeking to grant U.S. citizenship to people born in American Samoa.
While preserving the appeals court ruling, the court also declined an invitation to overturn a series of rulings dating back to 1901 known as “island cases” that were riddled with racist and anti-foreign rhetoric. Justice Neil Gorsuch had called for the cases to be overturned in April.
But the judge rejected an appeal by people who were born in American Samoa and live in Utah, arguing that it was unconstitutional for federal law to declare them “nationals of the United States by birth, but not citizens of the United States.”
A trial judge in Utah ruled in their favor, but a federal appeals court in Denver said the citizenship question should be decided by Congress, not the courts. The appeals court also noted that American Samoa’s elected leaders opposed the lawsuit for fear it could undermine their cultural heritage.
“It’s a big note for the justices that I’m not equal to other Americans just because I was born on U.S. soil,” lead plaintiff John Fitisemanu said in a statement. Fist.” “I was born on American soil, had an American passport, and paid taxes like everyone else. But I’m not recognized as a U.S. citizen due to discriminatory federal laws.”
American Samoa is the only unincorporated territory of the United States whose residents were not U.S. citizens at birth.
Instead, those born in a group of islands about 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii are granted “U.S. nationals,” meaning they can’t vote for the president of the United States, run for office outside American Samoa or apply for certain jobs. The only federal election they can vote in is the race for American Samoa’s non-voting U.S. House seat.
American Samoa U.S. House Representative Amata Coleman Radewagen said dismissing the case “helps preserve American Samoa’s cultural priorities and right to self-determination.”
“Our people value American Samoa’s right to self-determination, and their love for America is reflected in the high rate of service our people serve to their country,” she said in a statement. “Congress can base the self-determination of the people of each territory on the right to self-determination.” to resolve the island case.”
The island cases that emerged after the Spanish-American War involved the management of overseas territories.
The justices concluded that territorial residents enjoyed some, but not all, rights under the Constitution. Citizenship cannot be granted automatically to “those who are absolutely unfit for citizenship,” a judge wrote.
That history prompted Gorsuch to comment in a case decided in April involving the deprivation of benefits of Puerto Rico residents. He wrote that the decisions in the island cases were wrong because they deprived residents of U.S. territories of certain constitutional rights.
“It is time to acknowledge the gravity of this error and to acknowledge what we know: island cases have no foundation in the constitution, but are built on racial stereotypes. They have no place in our laws,” Gossa Chi wrote.
The case stems from a lawsuit brought by three Native American Samoans now living in Utah who were barred from voting or becoming police officers in Utah.
The Biden administration joins the government of American Samoa in calling for the court to dismiss the appeal. The government’s lead Supreme Court lawyer, Deputy Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar, wrote that “the government in no way relies on the flimsy and discredited aspects of the island case’s reasoning and rhetoric highlighted in the appeal”.
