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Since Balzac the civil rights of United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico, particularly their national political rights, have remained dormant at best, subject to the vagaries of Congress, and the conspicuous inattention of the judiciary. The granting of so-called "Commonwealth" status in 1952, itself an enigmatic condition which merely allowed the residents of Puerto Rico limited self-government, did nothing to correct Puerto Rico's fundamental condition of national unempowerment, embodied most notably in the lack of voting representation in the Congress and the ineligibility to vote for President and Vice-President. The United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico to this day continue to have no real say in the choice of those who, from afar, really govern them, nor as to the enactment, application, and administration of the myriad of federal laws and regulations that control almost every aspect of their daily affairs.
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The United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico are caught in an untenable Catch-22. The national disenfranchisement of these citizens ensures that they will never be able, through the political processes, to rectify the denial of their civil rights in those very political processes. This uninterrupted condition clearly provides solid basis for judicial intervention at some point, one for which there is resounding precedent. See Brown v. Board of Education, supra.
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In this 211th year of the United States Constitution, and 102nd year of United States presence in Puerto Rico, United States citizenship must mean more than merely the freedom to travel to and from the United States. See Balzac, 258 U.S. at 308. This citizenship should not, cannot, be devalued to such a low scale.
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So long as that is the case, the practicality of the matter is that Puerto Rico remains a colony with little prospect of exerting effective political pressure on the elected branches of government to take corrective action.
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The contemporary society of United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico hardly deserves colonial treatment by the United States, assuming that such treatment is ever justified. Puerto Rico is home to a vibrant intellectual and cultural community which includes many institutions of higher education and other indicia of modern society, as well as a solid economic foundation which is wholly integrated into the National framework. Most importantly, its citizens have contributed in full measure, and at times beyond, to the defense of our Country.
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The perpetuation of this colonial condition runs against the very principles upon which this Nation was founded. Indefinite colonial rule by the United States is not something that was contemplated by the Founding Fathers nor authorized per secula seculorum by the Constitution. See Downes, 182 U.S. at 380 (Harlan, J., dissenting) ("The idea that this country may acquire territories anywhere upon the earth, by conquest or treaty, and hold them as mere colonies or provinces,--the people inhabiting them to enjoy only those rights as Congress chooses to accord to them,--is wholly inconsistent with the spirit and genius, as well as with the words, of the Constitution."). And far from being a matter of local concern to the United States citizens in Puerto Rico only, the inequality to which these citizens are subjected is an injury to every American, because as surely as the current situation causes irreparable harm to United States citizens residing in Puerto Rico, it just as powerfully denigrates the entire Nation and the Constitution.
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text of the court decision or Judge Torruella's full
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