Puerto Rico: Supreme Court refuses to hear PR's presidential vote case
AP reports: The Supreme Court turned down an appeal Monday that sought to open U.S. presidential elections to voters in Puerto Rico.
The court's action, taken without comment, is the latest setback in a long-running legal fight over voting rights of residents of the U.S. territory.
Attorney Gregorio Igartua, who filed the appeal, said that "for 107 years and 22 presidential elections since Puerto Rico became part of the United States, the American citizens of Puerto Rico" have been unfairly treated. He told justices that the residents have "an inferior type of American citizenship." -- CNN.com - Puerto Ricans dealt blow in U.S. presidential vote - Mar 20, 2006
Comments
The First Circuit split 5-2 over territorial voting. It will be interesting to see how the Third Circuit treats the issue when the 1999 Virgin Island case finally gets review. As the Puerto Rican plaintffs are going to the Organization of American States next in their quest for ballot justice, the Supreme Court may still be called upon to explain away U.S. non-compliance with an OAS ruling....but that is for another day.
Michael Richardson (Amicus in the Puerto Rican case, Igartua v. United States)
Posted by: Michael Richardson | March 21, 2006 10:56 AM