SCOTUS rejects effort to grant American Samoans U.S. citizenship at birth

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CNN

Ugh.

[Santander]

They should have citizenship, but the court's judgment is judicially sound.

[Mr. Reactionary]

They should have citizenship, but the court's judgment is judicially sound.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Dumb ruling. Tulsi Gabbard was a citizen at birth, though.

[publicunofficial]

Dumb ruling. Tulsi Gabbard was a citizen at birth, though.

?

[SWE]

Dumb ruling. Tulsi Gabbard was a citizen at birth, though.

Gabbard's parents were both US citizens.

[dead0man]

How do they travel/who gives them a passport?  Have they had a vote for independence?  I see the locals seem to not want US citizenship....at least the local govt....are they voted in by the locals?  Why don't they want citizenship? 

Is this the place that had the fish packing plants that were paying less than minimum wage that everybody here freaked out about and got them closed down thus screwing over the people they thought they were helping?

[Wells]

Horrible decision. Everybody in the territories deserves citizenship and votes that actually count.

[Santander]

How do they travel/who gives them a passport?  Have they had a vote for independence?  I see the locals seem to not want US citizenship....at least the local govt....are they voted in by the locals?  Why don't they want citizenship?  

Is this the place that had the fish packing plants that were paying less than minimum wage that everybody here freaked out about and got them closed down thus screwing over the people they thought they were helping?

They are US nationals, not US citizens, so they receive a US passport that has a note inside that states that the holder is a US national and not a US citizen. They can enter the US to work and they are eligible for most military and civilian government jobs. They cannot vote. They can acquire US citizenship through residence in the 50 states. They're sort of one step above Trust Territory citizens (Marshall Islands, Palau, Micronesia, etc.) and half a step below US citizens.

Yes, AS has a lower minimum wage, and some fish packing jobs were lost when Congress mandated the increase. But the minimum wage we're talking about was like... $3/hr. Part of this was not because of AS, but because of what was going on in Saipan, where Chinese textile factory owners were luring young Chinese women to work as indentured servants in Saipan sweatshops by promising them to "work in America and learn English". By law, such goods could be labeled "Made in the USA" and they were damaging the reputation of American-made clothing. AS was another story, but the thing is, these remote islands are never going to be economic powerhouses due to their isolation. Congress deemed it more important to protect the integrity of American-made products than some very low-paying jobs in a distant colony.

[dead0man]

thank you

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Wait, so the liberal DC circuit said no, and SCOTUS left it alone?........k, SCOTUS's fault.

[cinyc]

How do they travel/who gives them a passport?  Have they had a vote for independence?  I see the locals seem to not want US citizenship....at least the local govt....are they voted in by the locals?  Why don't they want citizenship? 

Is this the place that had the fish packing plants that were paying less than minimum wage that everybody here freaked out about and got them closed down thus screwing over the people they thought they were helping?

One reason some locals don't want citizenship is that if the U.S. constitution were deemed to apply to American Samoa, the bar on non-Samoan land ownership and other special privileges given to ethnic Samoans might be overturned as violating the 14th Amendment.

[Santander]

Wait, so the liberal DC circuit said no, and SCOTUS left it alone?........k, SCOTUS's fault.

Liberals these days don't care about the constitutional duties of the court.

[ag]

They had no choice. The law and the precedent were very clear. Courts do not legislate, and this is just another example of that.

The law, though, should be changed. By Congress.