Skip to content

Archives

Puerto Rico: Commonwealth or Territory?

Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States.  It has been a U.S. territory since 1898, when it was acquired from Spain after the Spanish-American War.

The Supreme Court has affirmed Puerto Rico’s status as a territory.  Presidents, senior administration officials in successive Republican and Democratic administrations, authoritative sources such as the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and Government Accountability Office (GAO), and Congress itself have consistently and repeatedly confirmed that Puerto Rico is a United States territory.Read More »Puerto Rico: Commonwealth or Territory?

What is a Territory?

Puerto Rico is a territory belonging to the United States. Historically, many parts of the current United States, such as Oregon and Missouri, were territories before statehood. The Philippines are an example of a former territory of the United States which is now an independent nation. There are also former territories which have become part of other nations. Territories and states are the two types of relationships available in the U.S. Constitution for land belonging to the United States. All land belonging to the United States is either a territory or a state.Read More »What is a Territory?

Supreme Court Statements on Puerto Rico’s Status

Harris v. Rosario, 446 U.S. 651, 651-52 (1980). Congress, which is empowered under the Territory Clause of the constitution, U.S. const., Art. IV, 3, cl.2, to “make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the territory . . . belonging to the United States,” may treat Puerto Rico differently from States so long as there is a rational basis for its actions.Read More »Supreme Court Statements on Puerto Rico’s Status

Puerto Rico: Undefended Front in the War on Drugs


A CNN article reports that Puerto Rico, an island with a population of 3,706,690, had 1,136 murders last year — 70% of them related to drug trafficking. For perspective, consider that New York City, with a population of more than 8 million people, had 496 murders in 2011.

Travelers from Puerto Rico to the mainland do not have to go through customs when they arrive, making it easier to smuggle drugs from Puerto Rico than from Canada or Mexico. Combined with limited protection of Puerto Rico’s coastline, this fact makes Puerto Rico a significant conduit for drugs.

“We have been asking the federal government to help us patrol…the Puerto Rican coasts, which we are unable to cover entirely by ourselves,” Gov. Luis Fortuño said Wednesday. “We want them to help us protect it in the same way they protect the borders with Mexico and Canada.”Read More »Puerto Rico: Undefended Front in the War on Drugs