Supreme Court Sidesteps Insular Cases for Now, Rules Puerto Rico's Oversight Board is Constitutional

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of presidential appointments to Puerto Rico’s PROMESA Oversight Board, but failed to use the opportunity to overrule the Insular Cases.  According to Equally American, a nonprofit that advocates for equality and civil rights for the nearly 4 million U.S. citizens living in the territories, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the seven-Justice majority, which reversed a unanimous decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals and held that the president is not required to obtain the advice and consent of the Senate when appointing members to the board because they are not “officers of the United States” for the purposes of Article II of the United States Constitution. However, despite taking nearly 8 months to issue a decision, the Court did not entertain requests from both sides to “overrule the much-criticized ‘Insular Cases’ and their progeny.” The Insular Cases, widely criticized as a doctrine of “separate and une...