Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
Posted on 06/09/2016 7:42:59 AM PDT by cll
In 1950, Congress enacted Law 600, which authorized the people of Puerto Rico (PR) to organize a government pursuant to aconstitution of their own adoption. The PR people capitalized on that opportunity, calling a constitutional convention and overwhelmingly approving the charter it drafted. Once Congress approved that proposal—subject to several important conditions accepted by the convention the Commonwealth of PR, a new political entity, came into being.
Those constitutional developments were of great significance and, indeed, made PR “sovereign” in one commonly understood sense of that term. At that point, Congress granted PR a degree of autonomy comparable to that possessed by the States.
But the dual-sovereignty test focuses not on the fact of self-rule, but on where it first came from...the Court has insisted on going all the way back beyond the immediate, or even an intermediate, locus of power to what is termed the “ultimate source.” On this settled approach, PR cannot benefit from the dual-sovereignty doctrine. True enough, that the Commonwealth’s power to enact and enforce criminal law now proceeds, just as petitioner says, from the PR Constitution as “ordain[ed] and establish[ed]” by “th epeople.” PR Const, Preamble. But back of the PR people and their Constitution, the “ultimate” source of prosecutorial power remains the U. S. Congress. Congress, in Public Law 600, authorized PR’s constitution-making process in the first instance, and Congress, in later legislation, both amended the draft charter and gave it the indispensable stamp of approval. Put simply, Congress conferred the authority to create the Puerto Rico Constitution, which in turn confers the authority to bring criminal charges. That makes Congress the original source of power for Puerto Rico’s prosecutors—as it is for the Federal Government’s. The island’s Constitution, significant though it is, does not break the chain. Affirmed.
(Excerpt) Read more at scotusblog.com ...
I await more interpretations of this ruling while wondering if this nullifies Puerto Ricans’ ability to vote in any U.S. election.
Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
So then is Puerto Rico just a territory or possession of America, not a Commonwealth? But then, still doesn’t have the status of a state.
What are the practical effects of this? Does this mean Congress in Washington has direct oversight of PR??
Return it to Spain.
The Whole Spanish-American War was a media-manufactured farce anyway.
PR vote in presidential primaries but have no electoral votes to vote for president. They have a non voting delegate in Congress.
Does this basically make them a state? or are they like Guam?
It was one in a long line of manipulated wars to enrich donors of the political class and satisfy the blood lust of politicians.
Congress is set to take over the island finances
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Looks like Puerto Rico is no longer rico. ;)
Agreed.
The 1898 conflict was totally unnecessary;just an example of manifest destiny gone wild.
Likewise the Brits and the Boers;just greedy empire builders grabbing everything they could.
Like a National Park.
Exactly.
It means you and the rest of the Americans are going to end up paying for the corruption down there. Get ready for a bailout that will make GM look like chicken feed.
What it does do is remind everyone that the "Commonwealth" government of Puerto Rico is a creation of the US Congress, which has the legal authority to override its control of the island's finances.
Of course that also means that the Fed Gov may be on the hook for any debts incurred by the "Commonwealth", just as though the DOD or Interior borrowed money and failed to repay it.
Maybe— in this particular case what it means is that someone charged and acquitted by the Commonwealth government cannot be charged again by the US attorney for the same crime, because the Commonwealth government is effectively a branch of the Federal government.
“Looks like Puerto Rico is no longer rico. ;)”
And we, the citizens of the rest of the US are going to be a whole lot less RICO too!
We should cut this turd loose. When you go there you realize that the bulk of the “citizens” hate America, and it’s a veritiable dump! Even the “good hotels” are not even two or three star, and the help there tries it’s best to pi$$ on any “white” Americans who are unlucky enough to be staying there. Our company decided to try PR for our annual meeting (in place of our normal trip to Hawail). Believe me, PR isn’t Hawaii! One of the wives of one of our employees had to be hospitalized there. She had all of her jewelry stolen by the hospital staff and the care was so poor her husband had to charter a private jet to take her back to Atlanta for treatment. I’d never set foot in the place again.
Like a National Park.
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And the taxpayers will pay for it like one. In perpetuity.
Nor suave.
I don’t know of anyone who ever goes to vacation there. Puerto Rico has “muchos problemas”.
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