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The End of “Commonwealth”

In a Roll Call op-ed this morning, Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi responded to an earlier piece in the same publication in which former Governor Rafael Hernandez Colon called the November 6th plebiscite a defeat for statehood.

Pierluisi focused primarily on the numbers behind the recent results and explains why statehood clearly won, but we believe there is also a more fundamental flaw in the former governor’s analysis.Read More »The End of “Commonwealth”

Young Democrats Support Puerto Rican Statehood

The Young Democrats of America (YDA) passed a resolution at their winter meeting in Salt Lake City this week, “urging President Barack Obama and the United States Congress to take action on the irrefutable and clear mandate sent by the people of Puerto Rico on November 6th, 2012 during which the current territorial political relationship of the island with the United States was rejected and an overwhelming majority voted in favor of Puerto Rico becoming the 51st state of the Union.”Read More »Young Democrats Support Puerto Rican Statehood

White House: Puerto Rico Vote Was Clear

White House Director of Hispanic Media Luis Miranda issued a statement last night clarifying President Obama’s position on the recent Puerto Rico plebiscite vote in which 54% of voters selected to terminate Puerto Rico’s territorial status and 61% of the voters who chose a new political status for Puerto Rico selected statehood.Read More »White House: Puerto Rico Vote Was Clear

McClintock: Congress Must Take Action

In his first formal remarks on the U.S. mainland following the historic November 6, 2012 plebiscite in which the continuation of Puerto Rico’s territorial status was rejected by 54% of the island’s voters, Puerto Rico’s second highest government official called upon the United States Congress to “tear down” the anachronistic wall of segregation and inequality that for nearly a century has deprived Puerto Ricans of the most basic rights of their American citizenship, and allow Puerto Rico to become a state.Read More »McClintock: Congress Must Take Action

Justice Sotomayor’s Position on Statehood

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has long been a source of pride for Puerto Ricans, and when President Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court in 2009, many celebrated that her nomination provided renewed interest in the discussion over Puerto Rico’s status.   Although Justice Sotomayor has avoided locking herself into any position on the issue, an analysis of her scholarly writing suggests that her opinion on Puerto Rico’s status has evolved from an emotional call for independence to a more thoughtful and pragmatic position of support for statehood.Read More »Justice Sotomayor’s Position on Statehood