Id. at 268, 21 S.Ct. 770. Despite the shameful genesis of this doctrine, seeFitisemanu v. United States , 1 F.4th 862, 869 (10th Cir. 2021), the Court has continued to apply it on the basis that it would be "impractical" and unnecessary to "extend full constitutional protections to territories the United States did not intend to govern indefinitely," Boumediene v. Bush , 553 U.S. 723, 758-60, 768, 128 S.Ct. 2229, 171 L.Ed.2d 41 (2008). Although United States law does not recognize the innate sovereignty of the unincorporated territories, international law does.
We thus need not stray beyond the text of the Citizenship Clause to determine the plaintiffs' citizenship. Despite the uniformity of the historical evidence, the panel majority points solely to a single map published in 1830:Fitisemanu v. United States , 1 F.4th 862, 876 n.18 (10th Cir. 2021) (majority opinion) (citing Mary Van Schaack, A Map of the United States and Part of Louisiana (c. 1830), www.loc.gov/resource/g3700.ct000876 (last visited Dec. 1, 2021) (on file with the Library of Congress)).
Id. at 268. Despite the shameful genesis of this doctrine, see Fitisemanu v. United States, 1 F.4th 862, 869 (10th Cir. 2021), the Court has continued to apply it on the basis that it would be “impractical” and unnecessary to “extend full constitutional protections to territories the United States did not intend to govern indefinitely,” Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723, 758-60, 768 (2008). The GAO Report was prepared for Congress to address “American Samoa's system for addressing matters of federal law.” GAO Report at prefatory “Highlights” page (“Why GAO Did This Study”).
Lower courts continue to feel constrained to apply their terms. See, e.g. , Fitisemanu v. United States , 1 F.4th 862, 873 (C.A.10 2021) ; Tuaua v. United States , 788 F.3d 300, 306–307 (C.A.D.C. 2015). And the fictions of the Insular Cases on which this workaround depends are just that.
As non-citizens, "American Samoans are denied the right to vote, the right to run for elective federal or state office outside American Samoa, and the right to serve on federal and state juries." Fitisemanu v. United States, 1 F.4th 862, 865 (10th Cir. 2021). They are also excluded from at least some federal jobs.
” See Fitisemanu v. United States, 1 F.4th 862, 875 n.15 (10th Cir. 2021). This means that Congress has not created or delegated authority to the territorial government in American Samoa.