On May 14, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Igartua v United States, 11-876. This is the case on whether the U.S. is obliged by various treaties it has signed to give Puerto Rico voting representation in Congress. Although the First Circuit had ruled against Puerto Rico in this same case, the decision had been 2-1.
Puerto Rico is the most populous jurisdiction in the world which has no voting representative in the national legislature (among those countries that have elected national legislative bodies). If Puerto Rico were entitled to voting representatives in the U.S. House, it would have eight or nine U.S. House members.
All overseas possessions of France, Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal are treated as parts of that nation, for representation in the national legislature. This is not true for Great Britain, but Great Britain’s most populous unrepresented colonial possession is Bermuda, which has fewer than 75,000 inhabitants. Aside from that, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, are not considered parts of Great Britain and have their own parliaments, even though they recognize the British monarch as their own head of state.
I wish Puerto rico would qualify for 8 or 9 US Representatives if it were a state. My calculations are that Puerto Rico would have 6 House members.
Hopefully, Puerto Ricans will vote on November 6, 2012, to request admission into the union as a state.
Perhaps P.R. can/will revolt and join the Brit Empire ???
Good. If they want voting rights, they should begin the statehood process.
It says in the constitution that only states can send people to congress. The constitution always trumps any treaties.
Revised Approx. seats math with P.R. somehow getting admitted into the Union as another State – Art. IV, Sec. 3.
435 x State population / Total States population.
Larger fractions get marginal States except circa 0.4-0.5 fractions with 1-5 seats.
See Method of Equal Proportions – square root of N x (N+1).
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Florida Elephants of course do NOT want lots of Donkey voters in P.R. being attached to Florida.
Gee – how many ILLEGAL aliens would go to P.R. if it became a State ???
Puerto Ricans are American citizens since 1917, so the only logical destiny for an American citizen is to have full representation in Congress, together with all the responsibilities and privileges that follow.
We will begin the process of applying for admission as a state this November, with a referendum in which the American citizens residing in Puerto Rico will vote on two questions.
The first one is whether we want to remain under the current territorial status.
The second one is which of the following non territorial status options do we want: Statehood; Independence; Free Association (another form of Independence).
Article XI states: “Canada acceding to this confederation,
and adjoining in the measures of the United States, shall be
admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this union, but no other colony shall be admitted into the same,
unless such admission be agreed to by nine, States.”
as ratified in March, 1781.
Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg, Chairman, American Independent Party of California
Isn’t it really an archaic legal fiction that the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are not part of the UK? Sort of like the plethora of meaningless titles of nobility that they have.
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It is not a legal fiction that the Channel Islands are not part of the UK.
Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg, Chairman, American Independent Party of California
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