Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor encouraged a Sesame Street muppet to consider her own career rather than opting to be a princess. Stephen Colbert, reporting on the segment, pointed out that far more American girls have grown up to be princesses than Supreme Court Justices. And only one person of Puerto Rican heritage has ever been a Supreme Court Justice: Justice Sotomayor.Read More »Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor a Source of Pride
“In the days following the general election,” wrote Arelis Hernandez of the Orlanda Sentinel last week, “it quickly became clear that Puerto Rican voters helped tip the scales of political power in Central Florida.”
In the same story, though, Puerto Rican businessman Raul Ramos, director of the Puerto Rican Leadership Council, was quoted as saying, “Candidates come eat arroz con pollo and talk about their Puerto Rican college roommates to us, but they’re gone once the election is over. We want more than that — we want a seat at the table.”Read More »A Seat at the Table for a Puerto Rican PAC
Columbia Law School professor Christina Duffy Ponsa has published a thoughtful essay about the November 6th Puerto Rico plebiscite. A nationally recognized expert on the constitutional implications of American territorial expansion, Ms. Duffy Ponsa’s analysis is a concise, easy read on the implications of the recent vote. She wrote:Read More »Columbia Law School Expert Analyzes Puerto Rico Plebiscite Vote
In 10 things the GOP can do to turn the tide with Latino voters, Samuel Rosado and Brittney Morrett list some steps Republicans could take to improve their position with Hispanic voters in the U.S., including making Puerto Rico the 51st state.Read More »Can the GOP Woo the Latino Vote?
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”
Governor Luis Fortuno is calling for a special legislative session to pass a resolution urging President Obama and the U.S. Congress to take action on Puerto Rico’s decision to pursue statehood. Read More »Governor Fortuno Pushes for Action
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
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
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
