Reaffirming the consent of the governed as the United States marks 250 years of independence.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1416 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1416

Reaffirming the consent of the governed as the United States marks 250 
                         years of independence.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 2, 2026

 Ms. Plaskett (for herself and Mr. Hernandez) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
Reaffirming the consent of the governed as the United States marks 250 
                         years of independence.

Whereas, 250 years ago in 1776, the people of the United States expressly 
        rejected colonial rule, affirming that all are ``created equal'' and 
        that governments ``deriv[e] their just powers from the consent of the 
        governed'';
Whereas territories have been an important part of the United States since the 
        beginning of the Nation, starting with the Northwest Territory in 1787, 
        with Chief Justice John Marshall writing for the Supreme Court in 1820 
        that ``the United States'' is ``the name given to our great republic, 
        which is composed of States and territories'' (Loughborough v. Blake, 18 
        U.S. (5 Wheat.) 317, 319 (1820));
Whereas, notwithstanding these founding principles, the more than 3,600,000 
        residents of American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto 
        Rico, and the Virgin Islands of the United States are unable to fully or 
        meaningfully participate in decisions concerning their political, 
        economic, environmental, and cultural governance, in violation of their 
        fundamental right to self-determination and government by consent;
Whereas Puerto Rico and Guam have been a part of the United States since 1898, 
        American Samoa since 1900, the Virgin Islands of the United States since 
        1917, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands since 1986;
Whereas people in the United States territories and commonwealths pay more than 
        $5,000,000,000 per year in Federal taxes, yet the majority of residents 
        are partially or fully denied access to Federal programs, including 
        Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition 
        Assistance Program, as well as dozens of other programs available to 
        residents of the 50 States and the District of Columbia;
Whereas residents of United States territories and commonwealths serve in the 
        United States Armed Forces at rates among the highest per capita of any 
        jurisdiction in the Nation, yet are denied the right to vote in Federal 
        elections, including for the President, the Commander in Chief under 
        whom they serve;
Whereas the concepts of ``consent of the governed'' and that all are ``created 
        equal'' are enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, served as 
        foundational inspiration for the United Nations Charter (ratified by the 
        United States in 1945) and the International Covenant on Civil and 
        Political Rights (ratified by the United States in 1992), and continue 
        to serve as essential pillars of democracy and the right to self-
        determination across the world;
Whereas, until the Insular Cases were decided in the early 1900s, the Supreme 
        Court long recognized that Congress powers over the territories, while 
        broad, were ``not absolute and unlimited'', but rather subject to ``such 
        restrictions as are expressed in the Constitution'' (Murphy v. Ramsey, 
        114 U.S. 15, 44 (1885));
Whereas 2026 also marks the 125th anniversary of the Insular Cases, in which the 
        Supreme Court broke from the Nation's founding principles and 
        longstanding constitutional precedent to normalize the denial of basic 
        democratic rights in United States territories, enabling policies that 
        have created a stark gap between the ideals of ``consent of the 
        governed'' and that all are ``created equal'' and the lived realities of 
        the people in those communities;
Whereas Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch explained that the Insular Cases have 
        ``no foundation in the Constitution and instead rest on racial 
        stereotypes,'' and Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that they were 
        ``premised on beliefs both odious and wrong'' (United States v. Vaello 
        Madero, 596 U.S. 159, 180 (2022) (Gorsuch, J., concurring); id. at 194 
        n.4 (Sotomayor, J., dissenting));
Whereas the Department of Justice declared in a 2024 letter to Congress that it 
        ``unequivocally condemns the racist rhetoric and reasoning of the 
        Insular Cases'', concluding ``that such reasoning and rhetoric are 
        irreconcilable with foundational American principles of equality, 
        justice, and democracy''; and
Whereas the time has come to fully realize the founding principles of the 
        Declaration of Independence throughout the United States, including for 
        people in United States territories: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives, without taking a 
position on or favoring any particular political status option--
            (1) supports democracy, fair treatment, and the right to 
        self-determination for all people living in United States 
        territories and commonwealths;
            (2) reaffirms that the Nation's founding principles that 
        all are ``created equal'' and that governments derive their 
        just powers from ``consent of the governed'' apply with full 
        and equal force to all people living in United States 
        territories and commonwealths;
            (3) rejects the racist reasoning of the Insular Cases and 
        their progeny as fundamentally inconsistent with the 
        Constitution and American values; and
            (4) embraces the conclusion of Justice John Marshall 
        Harlan, the lone dissenter in Plessy v. Ferguson, who wrote in 
        dissent to the Insular Cases that ``[t]he idea that this 
        country may acquire territories anywhere upon the Earth, by 
        conquest or treaty, and hold them as mere colonies or 
        provinces--the people inhabiting them to enjoy only such rights 
        as Congress chooses to accord to them--is wholly inconsistent 
        with the spirit and genius, as well as with the words, of the 
        Constitution'' (Downes v. Bidwell, 182 U.S. 244, 380 (1901) 
        (Harlan, J., dissenting)).
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