Reconsidering the Insular Cases: The Past and Future of the American Empire (Human Rights Program Series) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0979639573 ISBN 13: 9780979639579

Publisher: Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School, 2015

Synopsis

Over a century has passed since the United States Supreme Court decided a series of cases, known as the “Insular Cases,” that limited the applicability of constitutional rights in Puerto Rico and other overseas territories and allowed the United States to hold them indefinitely as subordinated possessions without the promise of representation or statehood. Essays in this volume, which originated in a Harvard Law School conference, reconsider the Insular Cases. Leading legal authorities examine the history and legacy of the cases, which are tinged with outdated notions of race and empire, and explore possible solutions for the dilemmas they created. Reconsidering the Insular Cases is particularly timely in light of the latest referendum in Puerto Rico expressing widespread dissatisfaction with its current form of governance, and litigation by American Samoans challenging their unequal citizenship status. This book gives voice to a neglected aspect of U.S. history and constitutional law and provides a rich context for rethinking notions of sovereignty, citizenship, race, and place, as well as the roles of law and politics in shaping them.

About this title

About the Authors

Gerald L. Neuman is J. Sinclair Armstrong Professor of International, Foreign, and Comparative Law at Harvard Law School.

Tomiko Brown-Nagin is Daniel P. S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School and Professor of History in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She is also Co-Director of the Program in Law and History.

Edition details

• Publisher: Human Rights Program, Harvard Law School
• Publication date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0979639573
• ISBN 13: 9780979639579
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 232
• Editor: Neuman Gerald L., Brown-Nagin Tomiko