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    2024.05.30 OUT Grijalva Insular Cases

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    Carta Justicia federal

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    2024.05.30 OUT Grijalva Insular Cases

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    El Nuevo Día
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    Carta Justicia federal

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    Carta Justicia federal

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    7K views2 pages

    2024.05.30 OUT Grijalva Insular Cases

    Uploaded by

    El Nuevo Día
    Carta Justicia federal

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
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    of 2

    U.S.

    Department of Justice

    Office of Legislative Affairs

    Office of the Assistant Attorney General Washington, DC 20530

    The Honorable Raúl M. Grijalva


    U.S. House of Representatives
    Washington, DC 20515

    Dear Representative Grijalva:

    This responds to your letter to the Department of Justice (Department), dated April 15,
    2024, regarding your request that the Department condemn the Insular Cases and the doctrine of
    territorial incorporation. The Department shares your commitment to protecting civil rights and
    treating everyone with fairness, dignity, and compassion. We are sending identical responses to
    the other Members who joined your letter.

    The Department emphatically agrees with you that the racist language and logic of the
    Insular Cases deserve no place in our law. As your letter notes, the Department has recognized
    that the Insular Cases contain reasoning and rhetoric that are “obviously anathema” 1 and
    “indefensible and discredited.” 2 In fact, the Department affirmatively emphasized in a recent
    filing that the “racist stereotypes” invoked in the Insular Cases were “indefensible and
    repugnant.” 3 The Department unequivocally condemns the racist rhetoric and reasoning of the
    Insular Cases, and unambiguously shares your view that such reasoning and rhetoric are
    irreconcilable with foundational American principles of equality, justice, and democracy.

    The Department’s approach to issues involving the application of the Constitution to U.S.
    territories is illustrated by its brief in the Supreme Court in Fitisemanu v. United States in that
    case, 143 S. Ct. 362 (2022). In addition to clearly repudiating the racist rhetoric and reasoning of
    the Insular Cases, the Department emphasized that it did not rely on or seek to extend the
    doctrine of territorial incorporation established by the Insular Cases. 4 Instead, the Department
    argued that a question about the application of the Constitution to the territories should be

    1
    Transcript of Oral Argument at 10, United States v. Vaello Madero, 596 U.S. 159 (2022) (“The government’s
    position on the Insular Cases is that some of the reasoning and rhetoric there is obviously anathema, has been for
    decades, if not from the outset . . . .”).
    2
    Brief for the Federal Respondents in Opposition at 16, Fitisemanu v. United States, 143 S. Ct. 362 (2022)
    (Fitisemanu Br.) (“And the government in no way relies on the indefensible and discredited aspects of the Insular
    Cases’ reasoning and rhetoric that petitioners highlight here . . . .”).
    3
    Memorandum of Law of the United States in Support of the Constitutionality of PROMESA at 16, In re: The
    Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, No. 17-bk-4780-LTS (D.P.R. filed Mar. 13, 2024),
    ECF No. 5069 (“The United States agrees that aspects of the Insular Cases’ reasoning and rhetoric, which invoke
    racist stereotypes, are indefensible and repugnant.”).
    4
    Fitisemanu Br. 16 (“The government’s argument here does not rest on that framework.”).
    The Honorable Raúl M. Grijalva
    Page 2

    decided “using the ordinary tools of constitutional interpretation—including text, context,


    historical practice, and precedent.” 5 The Department has taken active steps to coordinate across
    components and offices—and will continue to do so—to ensure that Department litigators
    consistently apply the same approach to analogous questions and will not rely on the racist
    rhetoric and reasoning of the Insular Cases.

    We hope this information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact this Office if we
    may provide additional assistance regarding this or any other matter.

    Sincerely,

    Carlos Felipe Uriarte


    Assistant Attorney General

    5
    Fitisemanu Br. 16.

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