Yes, that would be an interesting angle. I remember there was some rumblings about the VI Supreme Court was trying to stop them but apparently was not able to.
CGato
Hmmm....a bit of additional V.I. information (it’s wiki, but looks correct):
All U.S. territories are part of the United States (because they are under U.S. sovereignty),[10] but unincorporated territories are not considered to be integral parts of the United States,[11] and the U.S. constitution only applies partially in those territories.
NOTE THE LINE about the Constitution only applies PARTIALLY in unincorporated territories.
Then:
The United States Virgin Islands (abbreviated USVI; also called the US Virgin Islands or American Virgin Islands), officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, is a group of islands in the Caribbean and an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States.
So US Vi are UNINCORPORATED ...which means the constitution only partially applies.
This paper covers how the constitution is applied in the unincorporated territories:
https://www.gao.gov/archive/1998/og98005.pdf
Interestingly I found some additional Islands in the Caribbean I wasn’t aware of being US.
At present, general federal administrative responsibility for the CNMI, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa is vested in the Department of the Interior. Under terms of its covenant, the CNMI (my comment: CNMI is Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) consults regularly with the United States on all matters affecting the relationship between them.
Since the United States established sovereignty over the five larger insular areas, each has pursued greater self-government. Initially, military governors had responsibility for Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa; governors were later replaced by civilian administrators, most of whom were appointed by the President.
Eventually, each of the five larger areas was authorized to elect its own governor. In addition, the Congress authorized all of the larger areas to adopt their own constitutions. Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the CNMI have internal self-government under locally-adopted constitutions. Guam and the Virgin Islands have not adopted local constitutions and remain under organic acts approved by the Congress.
The residents of all five of the larger insular areas enjoy many of the rights enjoyed by U.S. citizens in the 50 states. But some rights which, under the Constitution, are reserved for citizens residing in the states have not been extended to residents of the insular areas.
So....while V.I. does not have all constitutional rights, they have all basic rights (the rights reserved to the states are basically associated with voting in federal elections) and they are currently under the administration of the Department of the Interior though electing their own governor. Unfortunately the paper doesn’t say if there are additional authorities that reside with the military or the Interior...for that I’d have to dig into the specific congressional acts.