Search Results for: puerto rico

The governor of Puerto Rico declared a state of emergency on Sunday in response to the high rate of violence against women and transgender individuals. Governor Pedro Pierluisi, who took office earlier this month, issued an executive order to combat the high rates of gender-based violence in the territory. In addition to declaring the state of [...]

In the days leading up to the 2020 presidential election, cries had already gone out to make Puerto Rico the 51st state. These calls were not simply a celebration of the non-binding referendum that Puerto Rico held on statehood on Election Day. They were, as well, a response to Democrats’ frustration with the balance of [...]

Puerto Rico went to the polls and voted for statehood Tuesday. Puerto Ricans were asked, “Should Puerto Rico be immediately admitted into the union as a state?”. With over 97 percent of the results in, over 52.27 percent of voters voted affirmatively.  This is the sixth time that Puerto Rico has voted on the question [...]

A US federal judge Tuesday extended three US welfare programs to the residents of Puerto Rico. The case, brought by nine low-income Puerto Ricans, examined the island’s access to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Medicare Part D, which provides for prescription drug coverage. Although the US Congress granted citizenship to residents [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday in Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC that the president did not require the Senate’s advice and consent before making appointments to the Financial Oversight and Management Board in Puerto Rico based on the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. The Oversight Board [...]

Puerto Rico’s newly-elected Governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced, announced in a press conference Saturday that Puerto Rico will hold a non-binding referendum on November 3, the same day as US presidential election, to decide whether Puerto Rico should become a US state or remain a territory. “It is never too late to be treated as equals,” [...]

US President Donald Trump approved a Puerto Rico Disaster Declaration on Thursday. This declaration acknowledges that a major disaster exists in Puerto Rico and federal assistance is necessary in order to alleviate the effects of both the earthquake and hurricane that detrimentally affected the island. Prior to this declaration, Puerto Rico was awaiting funding that [...]

Judge Clark Waddoups for the US District Court in Utah ruled on Thursday in favor of three American Samoan plaintiffs and a nonprofit corporation who alleged that their classification as nationals instead of citizens violates the Fourteenth Amendment. Waddoups cited precedent going back as far as 1608 as well as another case, Wong Kim Ark, [...]

A bill introduced in the House of Representatives on Tuesday would authorize a referendum on Puerto Rican statehood, to be voted on by the commonwealth’s citizens on November 3, 2020. Such a referendum would mark the third time Puerto Ricans have voted on statehood since 2012. Puerto Rico’s non-voting representative Jenniffer González-Colón says that statehood [...]

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in the consolidated cases referred to as Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment over whether the Constitution’s appointments clause governs the appointment of members of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico. In 2016 Congress passed the Puerto Rico [...]