prior probability

Today the Island of Puerto Rico celebrates “El Día de la Constitución.” On this day in 1898, the U.S. Army invaded Puerto Rico to expel the Spanish, and on this same day in 1952, the first democratically-elected Governor of Puerto Rico, Luis Muñoz Marín, proclaimed the adoption of the new Constitution of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Although the Island is confronting many difficult social and economic problems, including high crime rates in San Juan, a shrinking private sector, and an out-of-control public debt–problems that originated with Governor Muñoz Marín by the way), we must also mention Puerto Rico’s many historic accomplishments. Aside from Costa Rica, the Island of Puerto Rico is the only other stable democracy in Latin American, and her elections have been consistently clean and fair.

But at the same time, we must also mention that Puerto Rico’s political status and constitutional identity are hotly-contested questions, even to this day. In fact, even before the Congress enacted the PROMESA law in 2016, creating a federal financial board with veto powers over Puerto Rico’s public spending, a strong case could have been made that Puerto Rico was a mere “colony” of the United States. After all, Puerto Rico is not allowed to participate in presidential elections because Puerto Rico is not a State, and her sole delegate in the Congress does not have voting rights. Now, with the PROMESA law firmly in place, Puerto Rico’s subordinate status is all the more glaring and obvious for the world to see. The PROMESA law also poses an important constitutional question:

When Puerto Rico adopted her Constitution, it was adopted “in the nature of a compact” between the people of Puerto Rico and the United States Government. Doesn’t the PROMESA Law violate this compact? If so, what practical legal remedy, if any, does the Island have?

I want to shout out the Spanish remix version of Camila Cabello’s beautiful song “Havana,” a song about a lost love, especially Daddy Yankee’s masterful contribution to the song, which begins at 1’24” … Among other things, Daddy Yankee sings: “La libertad … cuando volvera’ solo Dios sabe …” Sixty-one years of an obsolete and decrepit military dictatorship is enough; may my dear Cuba, my lost love, one day be free.

At the suggestion of some of my friends, I have decided to reserve the domain name for “the-war-room.org” and convert this virtual space into my personal website. My new website will house my research papers, course syllabi, and some personal photos and will become operational in the fall. Below is a sneak preview:

Paging my friends Randy Barnett, Josh Blackman, Will Baude, Larry Solum, and others … In preparing for my July 22 talk on “Constitutional Aspects of Puerto Rico’s Political Status,” I noticed that no other Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court joined Justice Thomas’s concurring opinion in the landmark Appointments Clause case that was decided on June 10, 2020. (That case involves the constitutional status of the members of Puerto Rico’s new neo-colonial financial oversight board.) Justice Thomas’s concurring opinion was explicitly based on the original public meaning of the Appointsments Clause, so either “public meaning originalism” is dead or the other textualist judges (e.g. Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh) disagreed with Thomas’s interpretation of what the original public meaning of the Appointments Clause is. (I will have more to say about my July 22 talk and the Appointments Clause case in the next day or two.)

Not the one featured in the video below! The story is here. (Hat tip: Tyler Cowen.)

“Rear Window” has to be one of the most beautiful films of all time. Yet, if you google “rear window” what you will find is a lot of cutting-edge essays commenting on the themes of voyeurism, the “male gaze”, etc. etc. What these critics fail to see, however, is the reciprocal nature of the voyeurism problem: if you don’t want to be seen, then you should close your window shades!