Reconsidering the Insular Cases: The Past and Future of the American Empire

by Gerald L. Neuman (Editor), Tomiko Brown-Nagin (Editor)

Overview

Over a century has passed since the United States Supreme Court decided a series of cases, known as the “Insular Cases,” that limited the applicability of constitutional rights in Puerto Rico and other overseas territories and allowed the United States to hold them indefinitely as subordinated possessions without the promise of representation or statehood. Essays in this volume, which originated in a Harvard Law School conference, reconsider the Insular Cases. Leading legal authorities examine the history and legacy of the cases, which are tinged with outdated notions of race and empire, and explore possible solutions for the dilemmas they created. Reconsidering the Insular Cases is particularly timely in light of the latest referendum in Puerto Rico expressing widespread dissatisfaction with its current form of governance, and litigation by American Samoans challenging their unequal citizenship status. This book gives voice to a neglected aspect of U.S. history and constitutional law and provides a rich context for rethinking notions of sovereignty, citizenship, race, and place, as well as the roles of law and politics in shaping them.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780979639579
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	05/25/2015
Series:	Human Rights Program Series , #5
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Gerald L. Neuman is J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School.

Tomiko Brown-Nagin is Daniel P. S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School and Professor of History in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She is also Co-Director of the Program in Law and History.

Table of Contents

Preface Martha Minow vii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction Gerald L. Neuman xiii

Chapter 1 When Statehood Was Autonomy Christina Duffy Ponsa 1

Chapter 2 The Insular Cases: What Is There to Reconsider? Efrén Rivera Ramos 29

Chapter 3 The Centennial of Ocampo v. United States: Lessons from the Insular Cases Bartholomew H. Sparrow 39

Chapter 4 The Insular Cases: A Declaration of Their Bankruptcy and My Harvard Pronouncement Juan R. Toruella 61

Chapter 5 From Conquest to Consent: Puerto Rico and the Prospect of Genuine Free Association Chimene I. Keitner 77

Chapter 6 The Insular Cases, Differentiated Citizenship, and Territorial Statuses in the Twenty-First Century Rogers M. Smith 103

Chapter 7 The Ideological Decolonization of Puerto Rico's Autonomist Movement Rafael Cox Alomar 129

Chapter 8 Our Journey Is Not Complete Andres W. Lopez 167

Chapter 9 Puerto Rico and the United States at the Crossroads Carlos Ivan Gorrin Peralta 183

Contributors 213