The Public Record
Stacey Plaskett is a U.S. Representative for the U.S. Virgin Islands, having served since January 6, 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she has focused on legislation that addresses the unique needs and challenges of her constituents in the Virgin Islands. Plaskett has been involved in various legislative efforts, particularly in areas such as economic development, education, and healthcare. She is the first woman to represent the Virgin Islands in Congress and has played a significant role in advocating for the territory's interests at the federal level.
It is spring, the beginning of summer, but it is also Caribbean-American Heritage Month this June. It brings me great pride to join Virgin Islanders and other Caribbean people across the country in celebrating Caribbean-American Heritage…
The Virgin Islands of the United States sits at the most southern, most easterly point of the United States. Because of this geographic position and its proximity to South America and its almost sentry lighthouse position to the rest of…
Today, the House is holding a hearing on the insular cases, doctrines which hold the territories in a perpetual state of colonialism. Earlier this year, I served as a House impeachment manager in the second trial of President Donald Trump…
It is undeniable that the cases contain outdated and racially biased language.
It is the central principle of our American democracy that Americans through their votes can have a say in their government.
the Supreme Court's decisions in the Insular Cases are contrary to the text and history of the Constitution.
More than 3.5 million United States citizens are denied constitutional rights because they reside in one of the five U.S. territories.
We support the intent of the resolution to repudiate the racist and shameful attitudes depicted in the Insular Cases.
I offer my qualified support for House Resolution 279, which acknowledges that the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in the Insular Cases and the territorial incorporation doctrine are contrary to the text and history of the U.S. Constitution.
At the core of the disenfranchisement of territorial residents are the racially charged series of Supreme Court decisions in the early 1900s, the Insular Cases.
There is material doubt about how the courts will play the role of judicial review assigned by the Constitution.
American Samoa is unique by virtue that it became the only U.S. territory by deed secession starting in 1900.
It is not the Insular Cases that deny the residents of the territories voting representation; Articles I and II of the Constitution do.
What we oppose is the wholesale rejection of these cases because we believe such an action will have a lasting impact on the underlying structure of our political relationship with the U.S.
I co-sponsored the Resolution being discussed today because the Insular Cases doctrine denies democracy and equality and reflects abhorrent bias and have provided a justification for Congress to discriminate against American citizens…
House Resolution 279, which calls the Insular Cases racist, undemocratic, unconstitutional, unAmerican, and having no place in the America we know and love, is the first and important step to make amends.
I sincerely appeal to you to follow her example, because as she recognized, this is a fundamental issue of self-determination.
We want any change in our political status and rights under federal territorial law to be decided by elected leaders in the local government.
What we are doing is to urge protection first and foremost for the self-determination and rights of sovereign-owned peoples.
The resolution naturally, therefore, is a nullity without identifying the specific laws of each ruling that it seeks to overturn.
I would like to submit for the record letters from Governor Lemanu Mauga and myself to our counterparts in other insular territories asking them not to support or endorse efforts to deny self-determination.
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