Advocates for the rights of people living in the U.S. Insular Areas are hosting two upcoming panel discussions on the power of Congress and the White House to control the territories. Organizers with the group Right to Democracy said they wanted to open a dialogue shortly after hearing about an opinion issued by Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch.
The mid-November opinion written by Gorsuch and Justice Clarence Thomas, said it was time to reject the doctrine of plenary power because it has no basis in the U.S. Constitution. According to Right to Democracy co-founder Neil Weare, the opinion marks the first time that a federal judge has openly questioned that doctrine.
Legal scholars say that for more than a century, Congress and the White House have used the plenary powers doctrine to exercise almost unlimited control over the affairs of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands. “Congress and the president base their decisions about putting military assets in the territories or managing the Virgin Islands National Park on St. John or pollution controls at the oil refinery on St. Croix,” Weare said in an interview given to the Source on Thursday.
Panelists are scheduled to address the concepts raised in the Gorsuch opinion in virtual sessions set for Monday, Nov. 24t at 5 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. AST, and 11 a.m. in American Samoa, along with Tuesday, Nov. 25 at 8 a.m. in Guam/Northern Mariana Islands. Topics expected to be raised there include: where the “plenary power” doctrines come from; what it means for Congress to hold power over U.S. territories; a look at the Territories Clause and its role in supporting plenary powers; and how keeping the doctrine in place impacts the future of democracy in the United States.
Panelists include Columbia Law School Professor Christina Ponsa-Kraus, Rutgers Law Professor Rose Cuison-Villazor, Cesar Lopez-Morales, Counsel at Orrick, and Anthony Ciolli, co-author of the forthcoming legal casebook “Law of U.S. Territories.”
Ciolli currently serves as senior advisor to the V.I. Supreme Court and is the co-author of a legal casebook on how insular statutes affect U.S. Virgin Island law.
Weare said since the group announced the upcoming forums, they have received requests from people living in all U.S. territories to tune into the dialogue with the following link , and several from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, site of a recent military buildup.
The Right to Democracy leader said many of those concerns are also mirrored in Guam, his home territory.