Delegate Donna M. Christensen and former V.I. Gov. Charles Turnbull have joined in an amicus brief filed Monday in an appeals court case concerning the extent of U.S. citizenship rights for people born in U.S. territories.
The case of Tuaua v. United States is under consideration by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and four amicus briefs were filed Monday to assist the court. Amicus curiae is Latin for "friend of the court" and is a brief filed by someone who is not a party to a case offering information or opinions that bears on the case.
According to Neil Weare, part of the legal team representing the plaintiff, the case challenges U.S. laws that do not recognize people born in American Samoa as U.S. citizens.
Weare thanked Christensen and Turnbull “for their support of equal citizenship in U.S. territories" and said their leadership “has helped set the stage for our advocacy towards equal rights for all Americans, wherever one happens to live.”
Weare is president of We the People Project, which – along with attorneys at Arnold & Porter LLP and attorney Charles V. Ala’ilima – represents Lene Tuaua, the Los Angeles-based Samoan Federation of America and others in their challenge of federal laws that label individuals born in American Samoa as “nationals, but not citizens, of the United States,” an inferior status analogous to that in the Virgin Islands before 1927.
According to Weare, the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which was enacted in 1868, recognizes anyone born in either a state or territory as a citizen. At that time, much of the western U.S. had become territories but were not yet states, and the 14th Amendment gave residents the same legal status as those in states.
That began changing as the U.S. grew on the global stage. When the U.S. purchased the U.S. Virgin Islands from Denmark, residents were not immediately granted citizenship but were considered "nationals." That did not change until 1927 when a law passed recognizing residents as citizens. Similar events took place with other territories – Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Northern Marianas – with specific Congressional action designating their residents as citizens.
But under law, the 55,000 residents of American Samoa and Swains Island (a Pacific atoll with 17 residents, which is managed as part of Samoa) are not citizens but noncitizen U.S. nationals. It is that status that the case challenges.
According to Weare and the Tuaua case, Congressional action was not required to grant citizenship to people born in the territories because it was already granted by the 14th Amendment. It was filed on behalf of American Samoan Lene Tuaua and seven other people born in American Samoa.
In June 2013 the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the United States’ motion to dismiss the case, concluding “the Citizenship Clause does not guarantee birthright citizenship to American Samoans.” The case is now on appeal.
In support of the plaintiffs, four amicus briefs were filed Monday representing members of Congress and former government officials from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Guam, citizenship scholars, and scholars of constitutional law and legal history.
The perspectives and experiences of other U.S. territories were the focus of the brief filed by Christensen and Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo of Guam, Turnbull and former governors Pedro Rossello of Puerto Rico, and Carl Gutierrez of Guam, as well as former Assistant Secretary of Interior for Insular Affairs Tony Babauta.
“So long as the Virgin Islands and other U.S. territories are part of the United States, citizenship by birth should be recognized as a right guaranteed by the Constitution, not a mere privilege extended by Congress,” Christensen said.
Turnbull echoed her. “As the Virgin Islands approaches its historic 100 year anniversary as a U.S. territory, it’s about time the federal government stops arguing that the Virgin Islands and other overseas territories aren’t really part of the United States when it comes to important rights and benefits.”
“We certainly have paid our due during times of war,” the former V.I. governor said.
The brief explains how birthright citizenship has benefitted residents of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Mariana Islands without displacing what makes each of these areas unique.
The federal government will file its brief later this summer, as will the American Samoa government and the territory’s congressman, who have moved to intervene in the appeal. If the court holds oral argument, it is expected to take place later this year.
More information about Tuaua v. United States, including the opening brief and other case materials, is available at the We the People website, which can be found at http://www.equalrightsnow.org.
Residents of the Virgin Islands who want the right to vote in U.S. presidential elections can visit www.equalrightsnow.org/take_action.
