U.S. top court rejects American Samoan birthright citizenship bid

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a lower-court ruling preserving American Samoa's status as the only overseas U.S. territory without birthright U.S. citizenship, rejecting a legal challenge aimed at making people born there automatic citizens.

The justices declined to hear an appeal of a 2015 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that went against five American Samoans led by Leneuoti Tuaua arguing for birthright citizenship.

The Obama administration and the U.S. South Pacific territory's government favor keeping the status quo.

The people of American Samoa are considered noncitizen U.S. nationals, a status that denies them the full rights of American citizenship. The territory has a population of roughly 55,000.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-samoans-idUSKCN0YZ1LC

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World | Mon Jun 13, 2016 9:59am EDT
WASHINGTON | BY LAWRENCE HURLEY

[geardaddy]

1. That's fucked up. They should be citizens.

If they want to be.

[Kelvin Mace]

2. Let me re-iterate this sentence

The Obama administration and the U.S. South Pacific territory's government favor keeping the status quo.

[Bradical79]

7. Why is this?

Are they afraid too many people will leave?

[sofa king]

10. Probably their tax and sovereignty status.

Despite their unique status, American Samoans pay no federal income tax like other residents of "insular areas." Furthermore, they can travel and work anywhere in the US without immigration restrictions and can become naturalized US citizens after only 90 days of residency in a state.

In the meantime they have full voting rights at home and Congress cannot directly mess with them because they are a self-governing unincorporated territory overseen by the Office of Insular Affairs within the US Department of the Interior. Congress can pretty much only give them money.

You probably can't find five Republican Senators who know that, and if they're too dumb to know where they are within the US government, they can't fuck with them.

The Obama Administration probably approves of the unrestricted domestic sovereignty that American Samoans enjoy more than any other governmental entity under the United States (that includes 50 states, one federal district, six other unincorporated island groups, and 550 Indian tribes). They are the closest thing to a "principality" that the US controls, surrendering pretty much only defense and foreign policy to the U.S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unincorporated_territories_of_the_United_States

https://www.doi.gov/oia/islands

[Javaman]

3. aka U.S colony. nt

[Hortensis]

5. Naw. As is so common in these situations, the local

populace in most basic terms is split between those anxious to protect their own culture and independence from being subsumed by American and those who want automatic citizenship and even closer ties. For various reasons, of course.

Btw, almost nothing is black and white, and even "colonialism" was not an unmixed bad system. Residents of colonies had rights of citizenship in the empire, investment by the colonizing nations in stabilization and development, military protection, protected and guaranteed markets for their goods, etc. Many former colonies choose to maintain close ties to the colonizing nation today, and the rights of citizenship, no small thing, are why Europe and England have such diverse populations today. As opposed to non-colony populations who were granted no rights by exploiting, invading nations, including often not even the right to live.

[annabanana]

4. What the bloody hell is the point of THAT?

It makes no sense.

[Recursion]

6. Here's a very good CGP Grey video about it

Note the peculiar case of the Palmyra Atoll.

[TexasBushwhacker]

8. Could it be because they aren't subject to the same minimum wage?

American Somoa's minimum wages are set by industry, but for garment workers it's $4.58/hr. Since something can be assembled in American Somoa and still carry a "Made in USA" tag, that's how some clothing manufacturers get to say their clothes aren't imported.

I believe "Made in America" has to be made in one of the 50 states or D.C.

[ShrimpPoboy]

9. That certainly should be the rule

When I buy American it's not just patriotism, it's an expectation that the workers are protected by American wage and safety laws.