Me: “However
I'm not amused by "Guam Historian"
You: “Hattori was talking about the origins of the
unincorporated territorial status[1]
and it was Olver [sic] who made the link to voting for President.”
______________________________________________________________________
This glaringly FALSE STATEMENT was uttered by
“The
Nine United States Supreme Court cases
were decided in 1901 which are generally identified as Insular Cases.[4]
Probably the best way to gain an understanding of the Insular Cases and their
import is to read the cases. Two key cases are of great import, each of which
list one
In the other key case S. B. Downes and Co. was an importer
who sued the collector of customs for New York to recover $659.35 paid in duty
for the import of some bananas to George R. Bidwell the customs collector for
New York Downes turned on an the determination of whether the Foraker
Act passed constitutional muster. The Downes
decision held only that the Uniformity Clause, Art I § 8 ¶ 1 of the
Constitution:
The Congress shall have
Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts
and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States;
but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
was not applicable outside the 47 states[6]
that made up the union at that time.
Here’s the holding in that case:
“We are therefore of opinion that the Island of Porto Rico is a
territory appurtenant and belonging to the United States, but not a part of the
United States within the revenue clauses of the Constitution; that the Foraker
Act[7]
is constitutional, so far as it imposes duties upon imports from such island,
and that the plaintiff cannot recover back the duties exacted in this case.
The judgment of the Circuit Court is therefore
Affirmed.
And the syllabus of the decision penned by
Syllabus
By
The circuit courts have jurisdiction, regardless of amount, of
actions against a collector of customs for duties exacted and paid under
protest upon merchandise alleged not to have been imported.
The
Page 182
There is a clear distinction between such prohibitions of the
Constitution as go to the very root of the power of Congress to act at all,
irrespective of time or place, and such as are operative only throughout the
United States, or among the several states.
A long continued and uniform
interpretation, put by the executive and legislative departments of the
government upon a clause in the Constitution should be followed by the judicial
department unless such interpretation be manifestly contrary to its letter or
spirit.
Downes consists of 147 pages of analysis that spans
the discipline of constitutional interpretation from the parsing of text, stare decisis and policy analysis, to
historical and philosophical determinations. Downes deals with tariff duties on
oranges. Commercial interests, especially the sugar industry, were the animas underlying Downes, not
as Guam historian Anne Perez Hattori would instruct, that Porto Rico was “…inhabited
by alien quote alien races and they may not be able to understand Anglo-Saxon
laws therefore the constitution doesn’t have to apply.”
Nine of the Insular Cases were decided in 1901. Eight dealt with
Puerto Rico, one the
Four justices dissented and in so
doing clearly defined the issue before the Court:
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE
This is an action brought to recover moneys exacted by the
collector of customs at the
The treaty ceding Porto Rico to the
MR. JUSTICE
Page 182
The inquiry is whether the Act of
The act creates a civil government for Porto Rico, with a
governor, secretary, attorney general, and other officers, appointed by the
President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,…
***
The first clause of sec. 8 of Article I of the Constitution
Page 182
provides:
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes,
duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common
defense and general welfare of the
Clauses four, five, and six of section nine are:
"No capitation, or other direct, tax shall be laid, unless in
proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be
taken."
"No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any
state."
This act on its face does not comply with the rule of uniformity,
and that fact is admitted.
***
Glance
at
If those possessions are inhabited by alien races,
differing from us in religion, customs, laws, methods of taxation, and modes of
thought, the administration of government and justice according to Anglo-Saxon
principles may for a time
be impossible, and the question at once arises whether large concessions ought
not to be made for a time, that ultimately our own theories may be carried out
and the blessings of a free government under the Constitution extended to them.
We decline to hold that there is anything in the Constitution to forbid such
action.
NB the conditional
nature of the first sentence established by the lead word in the quote: “if.” In other words the
sentence speaks to what could
happen, not past events. Surrounding paragraphs make this determination
inevitable.
If Congress had power to acquire new territory, which is conceded,
that power was not hampered by the constitutional provisions. If, upon the other hand,
we assume
Page 182
“…that the territorial clause of the Constitution was not intended
to be restricted to such territory as the United States then possessed, there
is nothing in the Constitution to indicate that the power of Congress in
dealing with them was intended to be restricted by any of the other provisions.
***
In short, there is absolute silence upon the
subject. The executive and
legislative departments of the government have for more than a century
interpreted this silence as precluding the idea that the Constitution attached
to these territories as soon as acquired, and unless such interpretation be
manifestly contrary to the letter or spirit of the Constitution, it should be followed by the judicial
department.[11]
Its conditional nature is emphasized by the first sentence of
the quote:
Patriotic and intelligent men may differ widely
as to the desireableness [sic] of this or that acquisition,
but this is solely a political
question.
If
“…the judgment of
the Supreme Court, the new
territories were inhabited by alien, quote alien, races and they may not
be able to understand Anglo-Saxon laws therefore the constitution doesn’t have
to apply.”
and had she read the triple rationes decidendi employed by the
Supreme Court she might not have been so willing to be used by
There is much to learn from the Insular Cases about what an
apparently prescient
“…The general public should feel free to
demand more from academics in terms of quality of thought, transparency of
processes and, most of all, honesty and integrity. The public should feel free
to respond with ideas and hold them accountable, especially if they use the
title professor….”[13]
Best regards,
[1] As pointed out infra,
Downes had three rationales decidendi. A better place to look for
“unincorporated’ is
[2] Of course American laws do apply in
[3] “Anyone who uses the title
professor has a special responsibility to be truthful. The general
public should feel free to demand more from academics in terms of quality of
thought, transparency of processes and, most of all, honesty and integrity.
At UOG, we have many academics who willingly share their
ideas in public. The public should feel free to respond with ideas and hold
them accountable, especially if they use the title professor. Academic freedom
isn’t free, there are many responsibilities associated with it.” Words that are
familiar to you,
[4]
Crossman v.
Dooley v.
Dooley v.
Downes v. Bidwell
Fourteen Diamond Rings v.
Goetze v.
Huus v.
[5] After the Treaty of Paris the
[6]
[7] The Foraker Act, enacted 1900, in was the first
Organic Act for
‘Sec. 3. That on and after the passage of this Act all
merchandise coming into the United States from Porto Rico and coming into Porto
Rico from the United States shall be entered at the several ports of entry upon
payment of fifteen per centum of the duties which are required to be levied,
collected, and paid upon like articles of merchandise imported from foreign
countries;…”
[8]
[9] Guam became a colony of the
[10]Treaty of
Paris Spain
***
“The civil rights and political
status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the
[11] Undoubtedly a
reference to, the development of
what Chief Justice Marshall called “the American empire.”
[12] She might have even accurately quoted the opinion!
