The split decision handed down last Thursday is the latest in a years-long legal bid headed by island attorney Gregorio Igartúa to win the right for Puerto Rico residents to elect full members of Congress and vote for president.

American Courts

The Boston court had ruled in December in a 2-1 vote that the nearly 4 million U.S. citizens of Puerto Rico could not vote in the U.S. elections. The federal appeals court held that the Constitution trumped international law in determining whether Puerto Rico has the right to elect its own member to the House of Representatives. Puerto Rico is represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by a non-voting resident commissioner, the island’s lone member of Congress.

That ruling prompted a petition by Igartúa for a rehearing en banc, or before the full court, which was denied in the 3-3 ruling. In evenly divided decisions, the existing ruling stands.

Chief Judge Sandra Lynch, Michael Boudin and Jeffrey R. Howard noted that the issues at the heart of the case have already received an en banc review and are not entitled to a new review.

“Six years ago, this court did grant an en banc in Igartua de la Rosa v. United States (Igartúa III), because of the importance of the issues, and that en banc decision controls the disposition of this petition for an en banc review,” the judges said. “We believe Igartúa was correctly decided and no majority of this court can, in consequence, exist for any outcome other than affirmance of dismissal of the case.”

In a separate opinion concurring with the denial, Howard wrote that in the past he had dissented with rulings that the issue should not be heard but that he had to agree with Boudin and Lynch in that the issues are governed by the previous en banc decision, each separate opinions on why an en banc rehearing is warranted.

Torruella, a Puerto Rico native, wrote a withering dissent.

“I am sorry to say that the vote against an en banc consideration is by all appearances the result of a concerted stratagem to disparage these rights, and to prevent their litigation on a level playing field,” said Torruella, who highlighted that the case was a question about the right to vote.

He noted that Appellate Rule 35 endorses the rehearing en banc on questions of exceptional importance and chided his fellow judges.

“The opponents of an en banc review apparently base their opposition on personal views of the merits of this appeal, for I cannot contemplate how they can rationally conclude that the issues raised are not of an exceptional importance,” Torruella wrote.

Lipez agreed.

“The right of United States citizens to vote for, and be represented by, full-status members of Congress must be counted among the few matters that facially meet the exceptional importance pre-requisite,” he wrote.

Thompson noted that the disenfranchisement of millions of U.S. citizens is an issue of exceptional importance.

In February, the appellate court granted the Puerto Rico government’s motion to intervene in the federal lawsuit seeking to win the right for the island to elect full members to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The federal appeals court held in its December ruling that the Constitution trumped international law in determining whether Puerto Rico has the right to elect its own member to the House of Representatives.

Puerto Rico is represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by a non-voting resident commissioner, the island’s lone member of Congress.

In the majority opinion in December, Lynch said voting rights are “limited to the citizens of states.”

Puerto Rico residents could only vote in U.S. elections through a constitutional amendment, or if the territory became a state, according to the ruling.

Citing the International Covenant on Civil Rights and Political Rights, which the U.S. ratified in 1992, Torruella wrote that there could “only be one class of U.S. citizenship” and that anything else would create a “second class … on a permanent or indefinite basis.

OEA-D.HUMANOS

CIDH tramita demanda para que los puertorriqueños puedan elegir al presidente de EE.UU.

Los puertorriqueños son ciudadanos estadounidenses desde 1917, pero s?pueden votar por el presidente los que residen en algún estado de EE.UU. EFE/Archivo

La CIDH ha pedido a EE.UU. que responda a una petición cursada por el abogado puertorriqueño Gregorio Igartúa para que se otorgue a los residentes en Puerto Rico el derecho de votar en las elecciones presidenciales de EE.UU.

En una carta con fecha del 22 de abril, el secretario ejecutivo de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), Santiago Cantón, informó al Gobierno estadounidense y al abogado de que el organismo ha dado trámite a la petición, que fue presentada en 2006, informaron a Efe fuentes conocedoras del caso.

Desde que se presentó la petición, el documento ha estado en estudio y recientemente la CIDH ha decidido dar trámite a la solicitud para estudiar si la admite o no.

Dentro de este proceso, se le pide al Estado que responda a la petición y aporte información al respecto.

La carta de Cantón a Igartúa y al Gobierno de EE.UU. no significa que el organismo interamericano vaya a admitir la petición.

Otra petición similar del ex gobernador de Puerto Rico Pedro Roselló, que también fue presentada en 2006 ante la CIDH, también ha ha iniciado el trámite ante el organismo.

El 20 de marzo de 2006 el Tribunal Supremo estadounidense rechazó un recurso que demandaba el derecho de los puertorriqueños residentes en su país a votar en las elecciones presidenciales de Estados Unidos.

Esta decisión puso fin a una larga lucha librada por el abogado Gregorio Igartúa en los tribunales estadounidenses.

Los puertorriqueños son ciudadanos estadounidenses desde 1917, pero sólo pueden votar por el presidente los que residen en algún estado de EE.UU. No lo pueden hacer los que viven en la isla, que es un estado asociado a EE.UU.

La CIDH ha pedido a EE.UU. que responda a una petición cursada por el abogado puertorriqueño Gregorio Igartúa para que se otorgue a los residentes en Puerto Rico el derecho de votar en las elecciones presidenciales de EE.UU.