The Insular Cases that deny people like Fitisemanu equal rights as citizens were explicitly founded on racist premises. The cases, which occurred from 1901 to 1922, claimed that the people of the overseas territories the U.S. conquered in the Spanish-American War came from “savage tribes” and “alien” and “uncivilized race[s]” who were “absolutely unfit to receive” the rights provided by the Constitution. The court invented a new legal class of “unincorporated territory” for the colonial possessions taken from Spain that denied them equal rights and statehood.
Today, the Insular Cases still govern the U.S. overseas territories of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In each territory, Congress has negotiated different rules for people’s access to their rights as Americans.
For example, unlike other territorial inhabitants, American Samoans are not officially U.S. citizens, but American nationals. This means that even if they move to a state or the District of Columbia, they will be denied the right to vote. This was one of the chief complaints made by Fitisemanu and the other plaintiffs in the case.
When you enable the right wing fringe - they don’t always just come me after your political opponents.
In fact, most political assassinations come from the same side of the aisle - usually an extremist who feels “betrayed” by moderate allies.
Not SCOTUS, but still.
White men 73 and 80 years old? Right in the Fox News demographic. No surprises there.
It’s bad news for all of us if this continues unchecked.
Ah shit.
I thought at first it was Kavanaugh himself who’s going to have his head examined.
Nothing Can Stop This Supreme Court From Ending Affirmative Action - Not Facts, Not Law, Not Originalism
And then there’s the de facto affirmative action for white men that served as wind beneath his wings that got him where he is now.
Not that pretty much anyone that matters is taking that into consideration.
I think he’s a legacy at Yale. Daddy got him in.
and even if not him, certainly others. which is exactly why race needs to be considered in order to create an anti-racist admissions policy (!)
i’m very curious if they understand and don’t care, don’t care to understand, or are just so privileged they can’t understand.
