Richard Thornburgh

Posted March 28, 2010

Richard Thornburgh, Attorney General, Statement before the Senate Energy Committee, February 7, 1991, pp. 188-89. The administration’s goal is to assist in providing a fair and just vehicle through which the Puerto Rican people can express their will.

[A]ny description of options should be as fair and legally realistic as possible so as again not to mislead the electorate of Puerto Rico about the consequences that would attend each of the options.

It would be a disservice to the people of Puerto Rico to postpone resolution of [constitutional and other legal infirmities] until after a particular status option has been chosen in the plebiscite, expectations about that status option have been created, and Congress is considering actually implementing legislation.

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