From Roll Call: Supreme Court to weigh how Congress treats Puerto Rico

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The Supreme Court hears oral arguments Tuesday about how Congress denies residents of Puerto Rico certain Social Security benefits, in a case that could shift the unusual and contentious relationship between Congress and the island territory the U.S. acquired more than a century ago.

The case centers on one man with severe health problems, Jose Luis Vaello-Madero, who moved from New York to Puerto Rico in 2013 and thereby lost eligibility for the benefits. A provision from a 1972 law provides Supplemental Security Income for aged, blind and disabled individuals, but not in Puerto Rico and most other U.S. territories.

A decision that requires the United States to include Vaello-Madero and other Puerto Rico residents in the program could cost an additional $23 billion over the next decade and could affect other laws that treat Puerto Rico and other territories differently from the 50 states. A ruling is expected by the end of the term in late June.

Vaello-Madero’s attorneys say the provision is unconstitutional because the benefits from a national welfare law go to disabled Americans in the 50 states but not to the disabled Americans in Puerto Rico, which as a non-state has no voting power in Congress to change try to change it.

The justices have heard from Vaello-Madero’s attorneys that the disparate treatment stems from a “quagmire of racial and ethnic discrimination” and the court’s review of this law would counter how Congress “continues to hold Puerto Rico in an open-ended state of political powerlessness.”

For more: 

- Scotusblog: United States v. Vaello-Madero.

- Wikipedia: Puerto Rico.

- Wikipedia: Jones–Shafroth Act.

- Wikipedia: Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950.

- Wikipedia: Spanish–American War.