Judges Call for End to Racial Doctrine in Puerto Rico SCOTUS Case

The Supreme Court should use a legal battle over Puerto Rico’s economic oversight to toss a racist legal doctrine, a group of retired judges from U.S. territories argued.

The judge’s Aug. 29 friend-of-the-court brief urges the high court to overturn a line of decisions known as the “Insular Cases.” These decisions suggest that only limited “fundamental” rights in the Constitution apply to unincorporated territories, like Puerto Rico, the judges said.

The Insular Case doctrine is “rooted in offensive racial stereotypes,” the judges from Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands said.

"[T]he time has come for this Court to ...